Reddit user ipoopinthesink, an employee at Best Buy, says he was handed a rather strange item to recycle as part of the retailer's "Renew Blue" program, where people's old electronic gear can be brought in and disposed of properly.
It's not a broken old TV set or outdated mobile phone. It's a very fancy, very desirable NES Deluxe Set, a vintage limited edition package which included not just just a Nintendo Entertainment System, but two controllers, a Zapper and ROB.
Under company policy the item is to be destroyed, so ipoop's going to extreme measures to save it, hiding the item out back and, after his store manager told him he couldn't rescue it, contacting corporate HQ.
Best of luck, ipoop.
UPDATE - Common sense prevails, and the NES is saved.
"We are in the process of retrieving the robot and gaming system from the store so that we may put it on display here at our corporate headquarters in Richfield," Best Buy spokesman Jon Sandler told Yahoo. "A bit of nostalgia that our employees and visitors alike, are sure to enjoy!"
"We recycle virtually any consumer electronic device out there, but as you can imagine an item like this is fairly unusual and we can see why it captivated our employee’s imagination."
I work at best buy. Somebody brought this into best buy for recycling. My boss told me I would be fired if I took it home (corporate policy). I almost cried. [Reddit, via Go Nintendo]