How to recycle electronic devises - TV, Computers, and all that other shit that accumulates and you

[Maraya1969]

don't know what to do with. I have an absurd number of cell phones, VCR'S, cables and other devices that I don't know what they are. I do not want to throw these things in a land fill.

http://www.nrc-recycle.org/resources/electronics/policy.htm



State Electronics Recycling Programs and Policies

Below are links to state environmental protection agencies, and where the information is available,
direct links are provided to existing policy and programs on electronics recycling. Also included
are links to government entities and other organizations within each state with electronics
recycling information and initiatives.

[TexasProgresive]

1. Our community has a twice a year collection of

hazardous material and electronic equipment is hazardous as it is full of lead-solder and shielding (CRTS). Cell phones are collected and given to women at the local battered women shelter for emergency calls to 911. If you check with your local people I'll bet you will find similar programs-cause this ain't no hotbed of progressive thinking and action!

[Maraya1969]

3. I just looked at my area's recycling program and they don't have a collection

for these things. I might call them and tell them what your area is doing. I bet they collect a lot of stuff.

[Maraya1969]

2. Can we put this on the front page? I never knew this existed and I expect many other don't either.

It is great information. I clicked on one recycling center in Florida and they completely dismantle your items and reuse them.

And with electronics going by the wayside every two years I think this is a necessary recycling project.

[necso]

4. We have a once-a-year collection here.

But they don't take everything. The landfill takes some things, for fee.

Hazardous materials "disposal" needs to be made a lot easier.

[hlthe2b]

5. thank you for this...Bookmarked for future reference

:toast: (and a second :toast to Boulder/Boulder County, CO, which as usual seems to have taken the lead on the issue in Colorado)

[skids]

6. Great link. A friend of mine...

...runs a small computer shop and since computer prices and margins have been gutted, he's started to take on recycling as a source of income for his business -- he charges by the pound because although there is some stuff you can get money for generally nowadays at best you can give it away to a recycler but you still have to truck it there.

One time several years ago he took me on a tour of some of the people he deals with in the used market -- one place was particularly memorable, a family owned warehouse stacked full of large batches of computer junk in various stages of disassembly. They used to be able to make some money pulling out any reusable chips and selling them on the used market, but unfortunately that market collapsed as well, leaving it to the "strip miners" who just melt everything down for the trace precious metals.

Unfortunately, way too much of it ends up dumped in the 3rd world.

[independentpiney]

7. You can also see if you have a freecycle group in your area

for things that might be working you just don't have use for anymore. I've gotten rid of some old monitors, video game systems and tv's this way along with non-electronic items.

http://www.freecycle.org/

[Maraya1969]

8. I'm kicking myself for exposure!

[NNadir]

9. K&R. I was thinking of melting all my computers in my garage and making them

into solar cells.

Seriously you have done an excellent service.

[Straight Shooter]

10. All the Oregon links are dead except for the DEQ link.

:(

I've been holding on to an old CPU because I can't stand to take it to the landfill and it's too old (and slow) for anyone to bother with.

Your post serves as a good reminder to research into recycling. I'm in the boonies, but maybe one of the local computer repair shops will know.

Thanks. :hi:

[Maraya1969]

11. TV's and monitors contain the most amount of lead.

This is an illustration from Florida but it is probably similar to other states.

Look at this sad table re: recycling TV's




Computers are a little better

[Strelnikov_]

12. Save Them To Trade For Food After The Smash

Gonna be quite a market for electronics enthusiasts recycling all those chips in all those consumer goods when the smash comes.

The following paragraphs are from a report prepared by a British Quasi-Governmental think-tank (and a somewhat interesting piece of science-fiction).

Intelligent Infrastructure Futures - The Scenarios - Towards 2055

http://www.foresight.gov.uk/Previous_Projects/Intelligent_Infrastructure_Systems/Reports_and_Publications/Intelligent_Infrastructure_Futures/the_scenarios_2055.pdf (.pdf warning)

Much of the 20th century infrastructure has been eroded now (much of it was already old in 2005), but that doesn’t mean that communities have retreated to a new mediaeval brutalism. Much of the knowledge of the technology which drove the ‘Great Economy’ of the 20th century is still in people’s heads. If some components are no longer viable (the last chip fabrication plant closed a decade and a half ago), invention has found ways of adapting.

Some of the models already existed: the computer network, with the central server and ‘dumb’ (or simple) terminals used far less energy and generated far less waste than the proliferating personal computer, was well understood in 2005. Short-hop wireless systems have proved to be resilient. Above all, the groups who make communications function are highly valued, and highly incentivised. This is an area of constant innovation. The huge clean microchipmaking plants of the early 21st century have long closed, but there is still a supply of chips, and other technology fragments, from the so-called ‘chip monkeys’, who forage in waste tips for them, stripping cars and toys. It is a lucrative business, if an unhealthy one.

Recycling Technology

It is a commonplace that there is more processing power in a musical birthday card than in the first moonshot in 1968. In a post-consumer world, the technology currently found in cheap consumer items would attain a significant social value. The designers, Usman Haque and Adam Somlai-Fischer, have reported on their use of such technology to build low-tech design and installation prototypes.

They developed a range of sensors and other devices, typically ‘hacked’ from toys and other devices, a process which, they say, required little specialist knowledge. The devices they hacked included remote controlled cars, torches, walkie-talkies, ‘sound-responsive’ cats, and solar-powered garden lights.
Usman Haque and Adam Somlai-Fischer, (2005), Low Tech Sensors and Actuators, lowtech.propositions.org.uk


And here is what some people are doing with the 'obsolete' Xbox.

http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/index.php?title=Xbox_Media_Center_Online_Manual

[Judi Lynn]

13. Thank you for this information. Very, very useful. n/t

[Patiod]

14. Good info! We had to borrow a pick-up truck

to haul all our old electronics stuff out (I wouldn't allow S.O. to throw any of that away - it has to be recycled)

It was free the first time, and cheap the time after.

Do it if you can - you'll feel better.

[Scout1071]

15. I discovered how hard it is to properly dispose of these items

recently when my GE microwave (that was only about 5 years old) just blew. I thought I should read online about how to dispose of them and I couldn't believe how hard it was to find a place. I made numerous calls and could only find ONE place that would take them and I have to a pay a $25-ish fee. Now, I went out of my way to find the information. You think the average person understands how dangerous it is to just dump stuff like cell phones and microwaves? I really believe we need to make this much more widely known to consumers....not just the fine print on the box you throw away the first day.

And the companies that make the products need to spend more $$$$ educating the consumers.

[confuddled]

16. Hey, thank you!

It doesn't do me much good since, I am embarrassed to say, my state is the only one with no resources listed. This may explain why, I am also embarrassed to say, after looking all over for a place to dispose of my dead printer, I ended up tossing it in the landfill. Yes, I could have paid $25, found the original packaging and shipped it to the manufacturer, but that struck me as a rip-off at the time.
I note that the site's list is from 2002, so maybe I can contact the local EPA/Recycling folks and see if there's been any progress in this area.
May also be able to use the freecycle.org info.

[brer cat]

17. My town has collection but also...

we have a couple of people who pick up used computers at thrift shops which they refurbish to give to children in the area who can't afford new computers. SAFE house here also takes cell phones.

[Canuckistanian]

18. I think it's criminal the way consumer products are thrown away

Just because it's "not cool" to have a '486 PC, it must be junked.

To throw cell phones in the trash as soon as the new one comes out.

To ditch that old broken stereo, even though it could be fixed with a $2 fuse or a touch of a soldering iron.

There are people in this world who do without these devices because they can't afford them. And we throw them out as if they were banana peels or used paper towels.

If I like a product, I keep it going, sometimes to the point of absurdity. But then again, I have the know-how.

What's needed is a program of some sort to harness the knowledge that people like us have to fix, re-incarnate or recycle valuable parts.

The waste must stop.