Slashdot Mirror
IBM Offers Computer Recycling
"Many readers are probably unaware that used electronics, including TVs and monitors, are already categorized as a hazardous waste by the US EPA. Unsafe disposal by any business can lead to some staggering costs. The EPA does not inspect your trash. But if they find your monitor at an unsafe waste site, you are 100% responsible for cleaning up that entire site. They go after everyone who contributed to the site and just keep going until everyone is bankrupt or the site is cleaned. There is no proportional allocation. One PC is enough to be charged the entire site cleanup cost.
Consumers not exempt, but there is no point in prosecuting them. They don't have enough money and the political cost to the EPA is too high.
If you do not already have a suitable electronics disposal plan in place, this may be of interest. Most Massachusetts towns have a recycling plan in place because Massachusetts already prohibits consumer disposal of electronics in the regular trash. There are also a variety of donation programs for usable electronics, although many charities have become rather restrictive. They have been burned by people donating broken useless equipment and forcing the charity to pay the recycling disposal fees."
Why do I get the feeling that IBM is essentially offering to buy dollars from people for the low, low price of $.25? I think that IBM will reap much more than $30 on average for each PC that it recylces...
-This sig intentionally left blank
To get rid of trash in that manner is only good if your a big company... Its a good idea though. I mean the enviorment wins in the long run.
If we refuse to be flexible, we are in effect opting out of the game of life. The world moves on without us.
I also think recycling should be done for free, and probably is in most decent-sized cities by the scrap dealers (who sometimes actually pay for stuff).
As shows like Tron and Reboot have shown us, the little programs living in our computers have feelings too.
This is an outrage.
How old is your daughter? Is she single? Sounds like my kinda girl. :-)
recently, some of my roomates and i bought a few 14" monitors for $5 each, and wired them all together to provide for music video and other visual displays at large parties that we hold.
So not only do we save the environment from choking on computer pollution (???), we also provide hours of drunken entertainment for college kids. (not that it's some sort of otherwise unachieveable feat)....
Shameless Self Promotion : Webhosting at Blender Networks.
"Why do I recycle? Not because I really really care about the environment, but because I had to pay extra for each can, and upon recycle I got them back."
but with this, you're not getting money back. you're paying extra! would you still recycle cans if you had to PAY 3 cents a can to get them recycled?
Shameless Self Promotion : Webhosting at Blender Networks.
See if the local thrift shop will take it. There are people who will buy it off them. I have friends who loves old computers and looks for them at thrift shops (their on the east coast and the shipping wouldn't be worth it.
-Fyre
- Apple Computer......proudly going out of business for over twenty years.
I wish I could remember the article that stated that many African nations wish we would stop dumping our useless crap on their shores. Specifically, they're begging the US and other nations from sending them old XTs, 286s and even 386s, of which they have little or no use for. We think it's generosity, however, they think it rude that we dump stuff that no one really wants. They argued that those old hunks of junk won't help them teach folks how to use the internet and are hardly modern enough to even begin giving their students the footwork they need to compete in a global economy. Remember, many of the brightest and best will eventually leave their home country for a University education either in Western Europe or the US. With a background strictly in obsolete technology, they would already be at a significant disadvantage.
Man, I wish I had that URL. *sigh*. I hate making it look like I'm pulling this stuff out of my ear. I assure you I'm not. If someone does have a relevant link to back this up, please post it. I would be interested in keeping it handy.
In short, don't assume that anyone wants you really old junk. It's often more of a problem than a gift.
I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with that term you adorable little raggamuffin.
Who's going to pay to get their computer recycled?
Businesses.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
I'm a volunteer at FreeGeek. We actually exchange volunteer hours for the refurbished computers, as opposed to giving them away outright.
The project is new. Our "grand opening" isn't even until this Saturday. (Originally timed for *after the election*, so we could get political officials interested enought to come, ironically.)
We're pulling in a variety of systems, from 8086's on up to dual Pentium Pros. The entire internal network for the organization has been pulled from the trash heap (with a few donations and maybe a couple hundred dollars spent on a DSL router and a few necessary cables.)
We're getting interest from a number of local high tech companies, and we've gotten 501(c)(3) status (that is, the IRS allows donations to us to be tax deductable).
If we can make a go of this, it may be reproduceable in other communities.
In Austin, TX, there is a Goodwill Computer Works which takes hardware/software donations and resells them. It's also a great place to pick up a 15" monitor and keyboard, among other things.
--
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Yeah, that's the way to do it.
I have a perfectly working 486/33 with all the bits except a case, I've been told a student is using it as his houses linux print-server or something. I charged him $0 for it, he charged me $0 to take it off my hands, we're both happy.
Phil
Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
The EPA does not inspect your trash. But if they find your monitor at an unsafe waste site, you are 100% responsible for cleaning up that entire site. More than that, if the EPA finds any connection, however tenuous, between a business 'dumping' at a Superfund site and a successor business, they'll come after you. One guy got dragged into a Superfund site cleanup because he bought some used trucks from the going-out-of-business dumper (before anyone knew about the toxic site situation). Kafka couldn't have written a better law than Superfund.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Joke's on you, Mr. Coward.
x .asp
Didn't you notice that you were linking to the web site of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a prominent science- and law-based environmental group? You linked to Appendix A of a comprehensive and informative report REFUTING the content of that New York Times Magazine article you were so proud of.
In most cases, for most people, recycling is a Good Thing. It's not good for raw materials extraction company execs.
Read the whole damn thing here: http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/recyin
I have a complete, working MAC+ that needs a good home. I hate to throw it out. It's probably a collector's item to somebody.
I live in the Bay Area. Any suggestions?
If said technology is still usable, they will give it, along with training, to a needy individual, in the hopes that this person will be able to use this training to start a career, and get a better life for him/herself.
If the technology you donate has outlived its usefulness, FreeGeek will pick it apart and recycle the basic components or elements. All of this is free of charge, but if you are giving them recyclables, they will ask for a small cash donation (not required).
But of course, Oregon is a pretty green state. Gore barely defeated Ralph Nader for the presidency here, 46% to 6%.
I'm assuming there are other programs like this around the country, but I don't know. What's your city doing?
Uncle Sam sent me to the Persian Gulf, and all I got was this lousy Syndrome!
...you can ALWAYS find a use for it. Hell, old 386DX's will run Sim City 2000, Doom, Doom 2, and many many many many many many other games just fine.
And if you want to do something productive, you can run word processors on them as well. And fill it with porn.
...to either just give a computer to the local amity/goodwill or to configure it with Linux and give it to one of the newbies at my user group.
I don't have to pay anything - and someone benefits.
BlackNova Traders
You could always sell them on eBay! Go Bush! Go!
This has to be the dumest thing I've seen all day! A P3-500 Isn't THAT old! Of course, I have a AMD 700, but a 500 isn't old, You could sell it, for a few hundred, then having to pay someone to get rid of it for you.
How about instead of companies paying to have computers recycled, they ask their employees whether they need a computer or not!
I would love it if the company I worked for, instead of paying another company to take care of it, or dumping the machine in the trash, would instead give me the machine to replace my old machine, or at least have parts to replace my old machine.
Sure - it won't be top of the line - but maybe it might be a 300 Mhz AMD or something to replace my aging Pentium 100. I am sure there are many employees who would love this (esp. if they needed a new laptop or something).
Worse case, give 'em to the local geeks to play with! Myself, at every company I worked for, I made it known to the IT dept that if there was any hardware being thrown out, to let me know about it - I would take it off their hands. I have gotten a lot of good hardware this way.
I support the EFF - do you?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
This site disagrees, and claims various bits of supporting evidence from DOE, municipal governments, and other sources.
Don't just dogmatize your beliefs, investigate them!
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
We have to pay them to take our stuff? They say they will try to refurb and donate to non-profits thus garnering themselves a tax write-off. This is a win-win for them.
:-)
Why the hell didn't I think of it?
TheAngryArmadillo
--
"Government is good at only one thing: It breaks your legs, hands
you a pair of crutches, and says, 'See, without us you wouldn't
be able to walk.'" -- Harry Browne
I was actually planning on getting this thing running, but the main problem with it is that it apparently requires 3-phase power. It was also on the second floor of a building, up three rather narrow flights of stairs, so getting it out required completely disassembling it. It's pretty much in one piece now, but I'm sure some of the internals need to be reconnected properly.
The main unit is about the size of a wide refrigerator, and the storage array (an SA-850) is the size of a regular 19" rack.
I like old hardware, but I really don't have the time to devote to it right now (or the 3-phase power) so I've been thinking about selling off all the boards and junking or giving away most of the rest. The guts are worth at least a few hundred bucks on the surplus market, so I'd rather not just give it all away, but on the other hand it's taking up a lot of room and it's not doing me any good. Maybe I'll post a message on that list and see if anyone wants to buy or trade for it.
Here is a reprint of the original New York Times Magazine article "Recycling is Garbage".
Yes, recycling is good for some materials, but the idea that extensive recycling (which requires a whole new waste managment infrastructure!) will save the world is preposterous.
Recycling is about transporting hazardous crap to safe places.
You don't want hazardous crap? Then you should stop buying it.
How likely is that then?
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
I would personally like to see this $29.95 fee (or whatever the price eventually is) included in the price of new computers as a 'deposit'. When it comes time to recycle your old machine, you then get your deposit back. This would give people a cash incentive to recycle, rather than just dumping their machine in the trash.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
It's great to have a programme to start recycling old computer parts. But what I'd really like to see is new computers and computer parts made at least partially from recycled goods. Everything from CD-ROMs to chips--is this plausible or even possible? Is there anyone doing this now?
no, no, no. that's what electric eel farms are for.
We're talking 15-20 dead monitors, and 4 or 5 BIG out of warranty HP LaserJets, out of sight, out of mind. They either recycle and resell or dispose of it according to regulations. The provider normally charged $50/trip, but waived this in our case because we gave them a big box of cables and other useful stuff. Beats the hell out of $29.99 a CPU, and we were just happy to see it go.
Juice cartons take up half the landfill space occupied by the glass bottles they replaced; 12 plastic grocery bags fit in the space occupied by one paper bag.
Yeah, BUT.. if a turtle eats a piece of paper, what do you think will happen to it?(nothing, unless it's sandpaper, or fly-catching paper). If that same turtle then goes and eats plastic, or styrofoam, it'll surely die. Sea turtles tend to eat plastic bags, because they think it's jellyfish. Then they choke to death. Not a nice way to go.
As someone else mentioned earlier, computer recycling is big business.
What I haven't seen mentioned is that other things recycled are big business too. The example that springs to my mind is an incinerator in my area. Municipalities pay to have their garbage incinerated (its done extremely cleanly - next to zero emissions - less then a car, you can't even tell its there when your right next to it) and the heat energy from burning is converted into electricity, and sold, and also partially sold as steam to run a factory near by. They make millions every year, some of which (not too much) goes to the French company that manages it, and the rest is enough to fund the recycling program in the area. Innovative!
SSL Certificate
Hey do I put my comments here, or do I wait for one of you to repost this story in an hour or two?
http://fsfeurope.org/
Oh crap, I just noticed that I've been posting everything witha +1 bonus point. Oh crap, my karma's going to feel this....
Sorting, transporting and handling several kinds of wastes instead of just one results in higher fuel and manufacturing consumption and thereby pollution.
Where are you located? If you're in the Pacific Northwest (USA), I'd be happy to help thin out your collection.
Hey, why give them money when you can send it to me, postage paid, and I'l recycle it for free.
Your hard drive will get wiped, and your ram/mobo/monitor and cards will be re-sold in my store.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The EPA decides what a safe site is, and the EPA decides how much to charge to clean it up? Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?
< Sarcasm >
.... By going to computer shows and have vendors pay me $25 to take possession of their outdated computers.
/Sarcasm >
Surely they can't expect me to actually pay them!
<
There are going to build the world's largest Beowolf cluster. Imagine a 286 topping the SPEChpc results!
You're just guessing... I am stating this from the past experience of at least one company operating in the SF Bay area. Even in teh US, some "obsolete" chips are more popular with hobbyists than the new ones - this company sold those over the counter to locals. The overseas operations disassembled boards, reclaimed useful parts (they defined useful according to their local markets), and extracted metal from the rest. The scrap plastic, I don't know what happened to it. Either landfill, or as road filler, would be my guess.
Some third world countries, like Brazil, where I am at this very moment in my company's Brazilian engineering office, where we have many excellent engineers, actually DO have legions of trained repair techs, and programmers, etc. India is another third world country that shares this trait, as is Russia. Of course, they also have lots of poor people, but a depressed economy is not isomorphic with everyone being technologically backwards and uneducated...
Unless you've actually left the US, and actually been involved with the computer recycling business, you are just making things up...
Regarding the other guy's note about UPS and FedEx trucks... I will assume he is right, though I know that the UPS truck that delivers in the industrial neighborhood in Brooklyn that I live in often returns empty, I will assume this route is an exception in the UPS system. Other shipping companies DO seem, however, to have lots of extra space - as some companies make a living pooling it and reselling it.
o/~ we are pissed, we are pissed, we have to resist... o/~ - ec8or
Quite right. According to this register article, European legislation will soon demand that manufacturers fund recycling schemes and passing the cost directly to the consumer when they purchase a new PC may be the only way to do it.
Of course as IBM are putting hundreds of millions of bucks into Linux, does anyone mind them getting tax breaks on recycling?
http://fsfeurope.org/
Dumbass. We're talking about landfills vs recycling, not throwing shit in the fucking ocean. How many sea turtles do you think are crawling around in the middle of a landfill?
SUWAIN: Slashdot User Without An Interesting Name
SUWAIN: Slashdot User Without An Interesting Name
Does it apply? at least this post isn't as gummy as your shlock on kurosion!
YOU ARE NOT YOUR KARMA, OR HOW MANY STORIES YOU'VE HAD POSTED TO THE FRONT PAGE. YOU ARE NOT YOUR LINUX BOX UPTIME. YOU'RE NOT YOUR FUCKING PALMPILOT. YOU ARE THE ALL SINGING, ALL DANCING CRAP OF SLASHDOT
It was sad when Taco felt the need to run vlad out of town. It was sad when he wanted to mess with signal 11 as well, only he should've comported himself with a modicum of dignity the way vlad did, don't you think?
btw, I would've thought jsm was a good choice too. too bad about the way it's been working out!
-=(V)0(V)0cr0(V)3=-
Here are a few facts I dug up:
I've collected some information on computer recycling (the link to documentation of lead's effect on children's brains is bad; here is a better one).
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. -- Berthold Auerbach
how about the toxicity of the ashes left over?
it's some of the nastiest s*it on the planet.
incinerators are about as innovative as microsoft.
La via sola al paradiso incommincia nel inferno
Hey, at least the kid in Auckerman's post got 72 megs of RAM. That's more than I have in my home machine and I have a good job.
-B
i would hate to see the clutter in your room.
I have a severe problem with the belief that technology is the cure for all things. Give 100 people a computer and some might go into IT. Come on, most people I know who have computers are not in IT. Most will play games. What about cars? Not having a car is a disadvantage, and a much greater one than not having a PC. Should we give everyone a car? A phone? Do they need ISDN/DSL/cable modem to go with that PC? Where do you draw the line, and why in the world would you opt to "give" (quotes, because you can't give that which isn't yours) PCs to the poor when there are more pressing needs? I'd much rather have food on the table, a phone for emergencies, clothes for the kids, etc. If and when finances tighten, you'd better believe I'd sell my PC to pay for food, clothes, rent, etc. If I was poor now and you gave me a PC I'd putting an ad in the newspaper tomorrow.
I have a severe problem with the liberal mindset which calls for a government program for every need and want, but doesn't call for any personal charity at all. If you want to help someone, then do it! There's a local group which takes private donations to put together computer labs to teach IT skills to kids who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity. I have tremendous respect for people who do this, as they're taking their own resources to help someone else. Calling for a government program to spend someone else's money is hollow and empty in comparison.
I have a severe problem with keeping the poor down by giving them everything and depriving them of the will to make a better life for themselves. If you want to help them, insure that there are no barriers to them working for that Win2K PC if they want it, or that nice house, or nice car, or whatever.
I take exception to this exactly because I've reached my position because I grew up wanting more than I had, and was taught that the way to get it is to work for it. I don't want to inflict the converse, the belief that the way to get what you want is to act helpless and lobby for government programs, on today's poor. That's a way to keep them down if ever there was one.
Do you really believe the poor and needy are poor and needy only for lack of a PC? I have a close relative who is very like me in aptitude, who makes approximately minimum wage in two part time jobs (no benes). He's had PCs since he was about 10, and often better ones than I. He could quite easily have followed the same path I did, but chose not to. Giveaway programs, government sponsored or otherwise, won't help here. If you want to help, get personally involved. It comes down to motivation, and you can't motivate someone by giving them a PC of any vintage.
While not nearly as environmental friendly, there are other amusing things to do with old wardware: http://www.massacre.org.uk/benchmarki ng. html
I can see this as primarily a benefit to businesses...for individuals, why not just donate to Freeboxen? (www.freeboxen.com) Then you don't even need to pay the shipping...
One of the great delusions of the consumer era is that donating is better than throwing out. It's true, to some extent, but you're making the assumption that people want your old crap. At the one extreme, you have mattress retailers who make you feel good by offering to donate your old mattress to charity. The result in many cases is that you have charities getting flooded with smelly, stained mattresses that they don't know what to do with and have to pay to have hauled away. A 286 may be of value, yes, but really what are most people going to do with it? You'd have to really dig to find software, and then you'd be out in the cold without manuals or support or anyone to turn to. Is it worth getting yourself reliant on software that's ten or more years old? Unfortunately, using old software and hardware is not so easy.
On the other hand, though, I'd like to see IBM's criteria for deciding what's junk. Maybe what IBM considers useless, and therefore, ready to be scrapped, could in fact still be utilized by the poor.
There are millions of impoverished individuals in this nation who would like to be able to have computer equipment, even old stuff, but the current economic system restricts that. That is why we need to continue to give technology to the poor and needy. I hope the average slashdot denizen will keep this in mind before junking that old computer.
I am,
I am,
Fine
I thought that was what Ebay was for.....selling shit you don't want anymore
WTF? Over?
Is there a site I can go to to find a computer recycler in my area?
Unfortunantly, I'm here in Texas. Also, since I'm at a State facility (UT), we have to follow certain protocals with our abondoned hardware. (Or else we staff members would be rich selling four year old laserjets and film scanners who's drivers only work with Windows 3.1...)
--
Feminism is the wild notion that women are human beings.
HA! I am on a roll today.
Cunning linguists
The /. headline made it confusing, but the press release made sense. You pay $29.99 and UPS will come to your door to take your old computer crap, working or not. In this way you're assured that the $30 you spend will help your deceased hardware find its way into proper recycling facilities and your old working crap finds it way into the hands of needy children.
The concept makes sense, I just would never justify the cost of shipping off my old crap as opposed to dropping it in the dumpster behind Computer Renassaince (as I have many a time) or giving it to the young kernel hackers in my LUG.
"You'll die up there son, just like I did!" - Abe Simpson
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
One can probably still find all the software one needs free on simtel20's DOS section. Most of it wil run on an 8088, and certainly on a 286. And, yes, there is plenty of good stuff one can do on a 286. E.g., the best technical typesetting system, namely TeX, ran just fine on an 8 MHz 8086 (I know because I wrote my thesis on one) and it's freely available. And if all one wants is email, one can use a DOS-based TCP/IP stack and telnet. Or just a terminal emulator and a shell account (I'm sending this email from a 9.5 MHz Z80 machine with 128K SRAM).
There are many valuable metals and alloys in a computer. Anything from small quantities of platinum and silver to stainless steel. Finally, there are many re-usable parts in PCs. Sound card dead? Maybe, but not necessarily the amp or the connectors. The PCB can be recycled if you take off the chips, etc. And you're PAYING for this. I remember a CNN report about a company in Switzerland that did this for free and made about $100 off every computer dropped off.
I'm a little segfault, short and stout.
Couldn't have said it better. My closet is full of old PCs, Macs, laptops, modems, monitors, etc. I am determined to find a use for them someday, maybe a sculpture made out of old PCs would be cool.
127.0.0.1 localhost goatse.cx
Your right, why pay $30 dollars for something that should really be free. Here in Utah, we have a good system going with the Deseret Industries Thrift Stores. You can drop off any of your old PC equipment for absolutely nothing and the parts are either resold on the shelves for excellent prices or refurbished or recycled. IBM's little program won't go anywhere I would guess. People hate to pay their hard earned money to these large corporations for a service that already exists.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
Domain Names for $13
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
Are there any around here? How about City of Industry since I live about 10 minutes away?
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
This may be so but the chips are going to be more than 3 years old! It would be faster just to buy the one at the store.
________
Does anyone actually have a Java program designed to control air traffic, or for the operation of a nuclear facility?
> To throw my ancient PC out? I don't think so. That's what the dumpster behind Safeway is for.
Oh yeah, that environment thing.. what a bitch.. it's way better to dump stuff and fix the problem a few generations later when the problem really gets critical (kind of like Windows NT :)
I was just thinking that while scrollin' through these messages. In all my years of computing (~15 or so), i've only thrown away one computer (an apple IIC!!), and i regret that i don't have it now. I keep all my old equipment, from monitors to [234]86s to 1mb memory sticks.
Worse comes to worse, there's always some little elementary school lab or small business that could use a cheap firewall.
now -that's- recycling.
From the: Make-your-neighbor-child-giddy dept.
Good idea if your parts are broken. However, if they're not, consider donating or selling them to someone who wants them. There are TONS of computer collectors out there that would LOVE to take computers off your hands for the cost of shipping, provided they work. The older, the better. There's several Computer Shelters [1] [2] and other "low end" computer sites [3] that have hobbyists just searching for parts and machines. There are listservs, Vintage Computer Organizations and, of course, the effervescent Obsolete Computer Museum site.
If nothing else, please forward messages of machines available for pickup or shipping to: computershelter@computershelter.org and I'll be happy to pass them on to hobbyists who would love to take them off your hands. Some of use the computers for our collections and to learn about older technologies, some of us clean them up and give them to children and impovershed families in our area to give them a piece of technology.
If it's broken, dispose of properly. But if it isn't, please donate and keep them in use!
Blog,Twitter
Ok, enough is enough . I've just wasted some minutes on the distortions and half-truths of the article, here is one example:
Spoiled, stale or unused food (or any organic waste) is not garbage, it's potential fertilizer. To even talk of putting it in a landfill is madness. Whilst *some* packaging can be recycled - with some energy cost. Organic matter recycles itself! Just stack it up and wait a few weeks and you have compost.
Now can we get back to talking about computer parts?
http://fsfeurope.org/
I think my children have been doing this. It would explain alot about them. :)
Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
I've got enuf old junk laying around that I'm considering shipping them a bunch. I hope that they'll not notice if the machine has four old MOBOs stacked up inside it... :-)
John
John
looking around my office we have been trying to come up with ways to reduce our old PC numbers, and looking at IBM's offer , what they are doing is cheaper than our method of just trying to figure it all out. So I feel when one looks at an option like this they have to figure out what is cost effetive for them. For us this would be Cost effective and I have emailed the story to my boss. I feel this may be a buisness to buisness aplication than anything.
If we refuse to be flexible, we are in effect opting out of the game of life. The world moves on without us.
From the site: "for $29.99, which includes shipping. Customers will be able to box the system and ship it via UPS to Envirocycle -- a designated recycling center."
That sounds like you are making the payment to cover their shipping (& other) costs. It's a good scheme (as are the smaller ones mentioned by other posters), but are they only doing it in the US?
http://fsfeurope.org/
My company throws away tons of good computer equipment every so often...a bunch of P166 and P200 systems, ATI Rage Pro video cards, 72 pin RAM, 2+ gig HD's. These things make great home computers if all you do is go on the net and play some low-powered games like Sim City. I can't count how many systems (or "orphans") I've saved from the trash pile and have taken home.
I even made an MP3 juke box out of some old parts and took it back to work for my listening pleasure! The specs are at www.betips.net/emp3box. I'm listed as the first news article for November. All of those delicious parts I used (except for the Compaq handheld, which was mine) were about to be thrown out by the cleaning crew.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
I went to the website and read a very nice press release. Yet it gives no information on how to get started. Whom do I contact? Stupid marketers.
--
This indeed was being done when the price of gold was high enough. Alas, with the price of gold down at $260/troy, this has lost a great amount of whatever allure it had. Unfortunately, recycling metals like gold involves some rather nasty chemicals (cyanides in some cases, e.g. heap leatching is get a pile of gold ore and pore cyanide on it), and is cost prohibitive when the price is too low. Silver from fixer can be recovered by electolysis from photographic fixer (sodium theosulphate for the most part), but you already have the silver in solution. Silver is more reactive than gold by a far shot.
It's good that someone is doing something to help keep our planet clean, but you also have to understand the economics behind IBM's move here. Companies like Micro Metallics have been extracting gold and other precious metals from discarded computers for many years now: with yields of as much as 20oz/ton, compared to 1oz/ton of ore from a typical gold mine. For $20, you're basically purchasing the "right" to have IBM make money off your valuable commodities. It's one thing to make a cash-for-service exchange, but it's an entirely different thing to make a cash-for-service-which-makes-cash exchange.
And don't forget Envirocycle's role in this operation. Besides being on their way to a solid monopoly in the computers-recycling industry, they pose a serious unrecognized risk of corporate espionage. As this Science News article pointed out as far back as 1995, in the course of recycling proprietary circuit boards and chips, Envirocycle is being given privileged access to industry leaders' intellectual property. Usually, Envirocycle is instructed to destroy those chips, but just think how little it would cost for a competitor to buy (or even just steal) those chips out from under their own competitors' noses.
Recycling is ultimately a good thing, but there need to be strong industry-ethics standards in place to assure that in saving the environment, we don't give up important rights and privileges. I'm wary that this industry (like so many others) cannot be expected to regulate its own behavior, but the solution is left as an exercise to the reader.
-- Anne Marie
Yes IBM is doing this to help it self out, As all large companys do. Weither or not this will make them a profit. It will help their image. And rember hell why cant they do some good at the same time.
Freeboxen.com is not a place to donate your computer to. It's a forum so you can post your unwanted hardware in hopes that someone else will want it. Generally the interested party will have to pay shipping on it. Some people even refuse to ship, asking instead for a personal pick-up.
I prefer option 4.. Sell it on Ebay, let them know it is dying/dead, and they will still buy it from you and PAY for shipping..
One thing which I've not seen mentioned is the :)
incentive for companies that sell computers (Such
as IBM) in such a recycling effort. This gets
older computers off the streets so they can put
newer computers out there. Even if you only need
a 486 to run your DNS servers, if there aren't enough
computers you may need to go out and buy something
more grunty and generate them more $$$
And I bought one a couple of weeks ago for $119...*sigh*.
---- Hey Grrl Geeks! Your very own geek news site has arrived!
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Why would businesses pay to have their computers recycled?
Other ideas rather than paying someone else to take the machine off your hands would be to (if you haven't already done this) run a firewall on it. You could use the box as a router, or use it to secure your network. Evaluating Linux distros on it is also another option to consider. This seems like a good end option for your computer, but if your computer still works, why not be resourceful?
Ah, capitalism at work..
If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
I doubt the problem is finding someone to take it, the problem is getting it there. Tons and tons of produce are left to rot because shipping it would just be too expensive.
Calum
Heck....I'll pay anyone one of you $30 (canadian) for _new_ computers!!
(heh..what a bad joke)
The basic sleazeware produced in a drunken fury by a bunch of UCBerkeley grad students was still the core of BIND. --PV
Because we're sick and tired of hearing people say "boxen".
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
- Obsolete parts at the board/subassembly level, modems, slow/tiny RAM, and other parts are practically worthless because you can buy more reliable stuff new for very little already.
- Obsolete chips are almost completely worthless, because you can't even unsolder them without a lot of labor and stress on the part. You might be able to incorporate the chip into something else if you're lucky, but the result will be nowhere near as reliable as the first unit.
I doubt that third-world countries have the legion of trained repair techs it would take to keep recycled and/or obsolete-repaired computers running, and that's before you consider the impact of obsolete interfaces for devices like disk drives.--
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
Seems like everyone would like to accept some money to take away old computers, but what would all these future recycling tycoons do with all the broken parts? Envirocycle and companies like them are not non-profits, therefore, since they've made the investment in employees and large facilities, and pay all their licensing and inspection fees, they have earned any profit they make. It's a great way to make money, so be happy for them instead of trying to make them sound like "evil capitalist pigs". Geez! Everything ain't gonna be free.
"Never pet a burning dog."
Althought this seems like a good idea in my eyes it is too much money to give away something I paid $1000 for. My questions is why hasnt the low cost pc market taken off. I heard a lot of talk about as computers get faster, the slower ones will be cheaper. Nobody makes software for slow computers anymore, and nobody (or at least not a lot of people) sell cheap computers. Why not give a school a crap load of pentiums or old x86's and if they had decent software then that would be a great solution to the current problem of technology costing the user so much. I guess we will just have to wait until moore's law breaks down then the computer prices for latest technology should drop (along with the tech stock market)
I've got an HP fixed-frequency display attached to my Win98 box at home, that the degaussing circuitry is finally going bad on. (Considering that the display was built 8 years ago and that for the past year I've been driving it at a frequency it technically doesn't support, I think I've been pretty lucky.)
So now I have 70 lbs of useless lead, glass, and plastic sitting there. What should I do with it?
1) Keep it on the floor in my apartment forever
2) Break out the soldering iron and sci.electronics.repair FAQ's, and hope I don't end up with glass shards sticking out of me
3) For $30, IBM will take care of everything.
Maybe I'm crazy, but option number 3 looks pretty appealing...
Not only that, but basically IBM gets to clean up some hazardous waste (which I possibly gets them some sort of tax break) and on top of that, they get to dontate your old hardware and I am pretty sure they get a tax break for that. Sorry to sound cynical... They are still getting something good done, but I just don't believe their reasons are totally noble.
Er, I think it's 2.5% anyway. It's been a long time since I've sold anything on ebay.
oh smeg....
make that URL www.betips.net/mp3box
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
You could always put them up on freeboxen. I am sure people would pay to have some broken monitors to use for parts. and I would be most grateful for those Sun machines from the 80's... even if they are broken! Please, please, please!
That's all well and good, but will they take my Commodore 64?!
- Toxic
There are millions of impoverished individuals in this nation who would like to be able to have computer equipment, even old stuff, but the current economic system restricts that. That is why we need to continue to give technology to the poor and needy. I hope the average slashdot denizen will keep this in mind before junking that old computer.
I have a severe problem with people pawning off their old computers on the poor and needy and feeling that they have done something good.
You aren't, you're keeping the poor down.
Now, if you're computer is too old for you, is it benefiting the poor and needy to have it? Only if you want to keep them poor and needy.
A good computer can be a big help in getting someone out of the ghetto, it can help them leapfrog themselves into a good, IT position. But will giving a ghetto kid a 386 with Windows 3.11 on it really help them? Is there a burning need for Windows 3.11 users?
We need a government program to get Windows 2000 compatible computers into the ghettos, and help the poor and needy leapfrog their dire straits into good IT jobs. Giving them old computers won't do, and is the act of a closet racist. What next, giving the poor your old moldy food, your old dangerous lead paint, your old, unsafe car?
Do you recycle your dr pepper cans? I definitely do especially after accumlating a thousand at the end of each month. Why do I recycle? Not because I really really care about the environment, but because I had to pay extra for each can, and upon recycle I got them back. I think the same should be done for computer parts and batteries. Get charged extra, but you will be refunded upon return for recycle when you are done using it irrelevant of it is working or not. I throw away batteries pretty much every two weeks, and computer parts every month, if I could definitely get back any money, I do go the extra step to recycle.
------ Curiosity killed the cat. {satisfaction brought it back | it didn't die ignorant | lack of it is killing mankind
I have offered to recycle your used vehicles for $29.99. Just drop them off at my house and leave the money on the front seat with the keys. Don't pay high prices to recycle your used car when you need to instead focus on buying a new one!!!
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
Dear Jesus, you sound like my daughter. The last time we moved I must have hauled four large heavy boxes full of antique computer trash out from under her bed. No way was I going to transport that crap for her so I threw it in the trash. I found out later that she got up in the middle of the night to retrieve and hide it, then moved it herself. Now I've got those same damn four boxes in the new house! Someone explain to me that value of four munged RLL 30 MB hard drives? Full height, too. Do you know what those things weigh?
(Mommy's watching, dear. Ok, sport. Explain this: in your desk drawer I found a 20 MB MFM drive. You were saving it for what, again? And this Hercules monitor card from God knows when? How about that 386 motherboard [doggone it, it has 16MB of RAM on it! What else am I going to do with 16 30-pin 1MB SIMMS?] How about the dead TI 386 notebook? You resuscitated it twice: going for three, are we? Or the Tandy 1400 FD laptop? 'All it needs is a battery.' To do WHAT? Then there's the AT case behind the door. [They don't make 'em like that anymore: you could park a car on it and it wouldn't hurt it.] So park a car on it, laughing boy! I'm tired of tripping over it whenever I try to wrestle a load of laundry through the door. How about the carcass of that old Packard Bell 486? You didn't even bother trying to breathe new life into that one. [PB sucked. I keep its putrid remains around to remind me of how bad things could get.] Face it: the kid gets her packrat tendencies from you. I should have known to expect no better from someone who plugged a 5.25" floppy drive into his new PC. Remind me: just why did I marry you again? [That was an ID10T error, sweetie. But I love you anyway, even if you do use Windows.]
:)
be part of the purchase price.
Well, if you have any smaller VAX systems I will take one off your hands for free, plus shipping?
"I regret that I have but one life to give for my country. I'd feel safer if I had two or three."
Why would businesses pay to have their computers recycled?
Read the story header again. If a business dumps machines straight in the trash, they may end liable for fines many times greater than $30 a machine. Moreover, facilities for doing this make it easier for governments to consider imposing even stricter controls requiring recycling.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
A couple of people including myself have been doing this for quite a while already, since we live very close to a number of universities. People come to my place, dump their stuff, and go away again. Other people come to my place to ask if I've got anything for them. Since this usually concerns writing something in wordperfect a 286/386 is all they need. The only problemis that I don't have enough storage space for all those IDE/ESDI controllers :-( Anyway, I don't really see what's new about this.
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
I have a working Woz signature Apple ][gs that I got through similar circumstances.
Jordan Bettis
``Wherever you go, there's another stupid sigfile quote.''There are some pretty big things to consider before calling IBM.
First things first. I'm not sure what consumer waste means. If the author means consumer waste is stufff like office products or equipment, then yeah, in the office or business situation, consumer waste is not exempt.
But if the author means household waste, (waste generated in private households and the like), then the waste is specifically exempted from being a hazardous waste in most states (reg. cite 40 CFR 261.4(b)).
That means if the waste was generated at home, it ain't hazardous, but the same material generated in a business could be hazardous. This is pretty complex stuff, so ask a regulator or a consultant like me.
As for the actual IBM service: On the surface, this looks pretty appealing. Most businesses, unless they are considered "conditional exempt" need to think things through very carefully before using a service like this. It turns out that if IBM screws up, then you, not IBM bears a big chunk of the liability.
Additionally, if your business is governed by RCRA, then you may be getting yourself into the scrap metal and recycling rules of 40 CFR. These things are pretty scary. In short, talk to you regualtory agency before using this kind of service. Even the way you internally manage the old computers can change what is okay and not okay to send off site for recycling. Just ask AT&T -- They were recently popped 190K for not providing the right answers to EPA region 2.
What does this all mean? 1) This could be a good way to get rid of your old computers and parts, but (to be safe) look to charities that won't be scrapping or reclaiming materials from your old equipment. This will keep you away from the gray areas. 2) If you aren't sure your okay. Look in the regs. Ignorance does not reduce liability, and scrap and recycling are tough to work with under RCRA. 3)Computers, batteries, and parts are one of the uberheadaches of RCRA (second only to chemical weapons disposal -- this I know) so be careful, and talk to your regulator.
Later,
Fred b.
compliance thug.
I believe that batteries can be taken back to the stores for recycling in Europe only because the battery companies there are required by law to have a recycling structure in place. Perhaps the recycling of batteries results in less reclaimable material than recycling paper, plastic or aluminum parts.
I believe that in the USA, that sort of legislation would be seen as restrictive and therefore may be difficult to approve.
In Brasil, although battery recycling is mostly ignored in most regions (with exceptions mostly in the southern region), I have seen several recycling dumpsters with a specific bin for batteries. I am not sure what they actually do with them after collection. As for recycling other material, that process runs the gamut of modern recycling sites to poor who live off meager earnings from picking through trash landfills. Rather sad.
I have tried to find places to recycle used batteries in Albuquerque, NM. Unfortunately, the recycling bins found at the Wild Oats grocery stores are only for paper and glass. Radio Shack was of no help.
I, for one, would be interested in a list of places one could normally take the batteries to be recycled. Anyone?
Who's going to pay to get their computer recycled? No one.
I guess I've always managed to hand down my old equipment (thus making it somebody elses problem) and I'm too lazy to deal with tax receipts or hassles from donating to charitable organizations.
A friend works for a company that cannot just give away older computers to needy schools because of liability purposes, so instead they are practically forced to partake in a computer "recycling" program. What is so odd is that they must pay a fee to do this (it is massivly enterprise level, so this is not an insignificant fee), yet the recycling company takes salvagable components and turns around to sell them making a double profit.
It seems like the company should see some of those secondary profits from the resale of components, or shouldn't get charged a fee at all.
I suppose that is what people get for wanting to be nice and generous these days *sigh*...
Mr. Macx
Hi. The consumer calls IBM or goes to IBM's web site and purchases the
product take back for $29.99. The consumers pays. The consumer receives a
kit with special label for UPS. The consumer packages the PC and takes it
to UPS. UPS ships it to Envirocycle in Hallstead, Penna., for recycling or
donation. Hope that helps. Best.
So, I clipped the address lines off the bottom (because I didn't ask for permission to post, but it seems reasonable to quote them). This area of ettiquite is still up for grabs, IMHO.
This seems like a reasonable sum to include shipping, and to find a good home (I hope) for all of the hardware that works, but I don't want to have to support if it breaks because I gave it to a person.
Mike Warot, Hoosier
The fact is that eventually something like this is going to become mandated due to environmental and resource concerns. Once that happens, the recycling and disposal costs will be built into the purchase cost. IBM is simply getting a jump on this by starting an independent program now. Since they cannot influence the purchase price, they need to charge a disposal fee.
BTW, most cities already do charge a disposal fee for computers, TVs, etc since they qualify as hazardous waste. It might not be 30 dollars, but it is not something you can do for free.
...they're getting my A500 they can drop dead. They can have my Epyx Joystick when they pry it from my dead fingers!
This
Some companies are starting to take responsibility ... belkin has a program with all their UPS's where when your battery dies they'll recycle the old battery, give you a new one, and check out the UPS to make sure its working for like 40$.
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
From the press release:
"It's a high-protein feed for farm animals, insulation for low-income housing, a powerful explosive and a top-notch engine coolant. And best of all, it's made from one hundred percent recycled animals^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcomputer parts!"
-
And they don't even charge $30; only 2.5% of the item's value ;)
great!! now we have to go the local computer store and upon up all the new Pentium 4's to make sure that IBM didnt use recycled parts. Yes sirree, this here new computer comes with IBM latest and greatest, what they call a four eight six processor. For a limited time only we will throw in a one hundred and twenty million byte harddrive for free with a 6 yr commitment to MSN.
"...your future, make it a reality, all you have to do is fight for me"
In Atlanta I do volunteer work for a non-profit called FREEBYTES they take ANY computer equipment, refurbish it, and redistribute to other non-profit orginizations. We have deals with scrap plastic and metal recyclers to dispose of cases, and will recycle CRTs with a $10 donation.
This sig intentionally left blank.
I recently became IBM when I picked up a carload of old 486s with overdrives from my former high school. The damned things are sharp! It's been 3 weeks since i got rid of the damned things and i still have scabs! As for the disposal, living in NM, no one really cares. I mean, what other state would allow WIPP? I've still got a stck of 486's in my closet and the case from a 386 full of 72-pin RAM, Pentium overdrives, 3c509s and 200MB HDDs. I need a transfusion... If you would like to send me your old somputer and $30 bucks, i'd be pleanty happy to have it. I gotta get my beer money from somewhere.
I think the order of "Reuse, Recycle" is important and there is no need to recycle any working or repairable hardware. If you can't give it to the kid down the street or the Linux enthusiast who needs a firewall, then perhaps these should be sent to another continent. Only when the machine or parts are not repairable should they be taken down into raw materials.
TheGeek
TheGeek
http://www.geekrights.org
Kill the monkey
A mouse hanging from your rearview mirror? Monitors used as fish tanks? A closet full of 386's??
You must be a real hit with the ladies. Throw something out for god's sake.
With the stuff contained within the walls of your house, if there ever where a fire, we'd have an ecological disaster on our hands!
Donate them!! We give all of our old PCs from work to a HAM radio club that one of the guys know. It's life watching a group of ravenous wolves attack an injured deer. They leave nothing behind.
Would someone please think of the children!
I love the smell of Karma in the morning
Thats a nice way of life ! well in my opinion recycling is good for the environment! keep it up !
Cool... maybe I'll finally be able to park in my garage! The 6GB of hard drive space I could use, except for the fact that the storage array draws about 20 amps and sounds like a 747 taking off.
What, me worry?
..that all-time classic Electric Dreams!
Also, what advantages does recycling a computer have over just giving it to a needy person (or something like Goodwill)? I actually own a Color Classic (its a collector's item) that is hooked up to my LAN (OS X PB running natd routing to ppp) and functions wonderfully for my kid to do email and web browsing. Seems like a waste to just dismantle a computer that still works.
Burn Hollywood Burn
In my department, we currently have at least fourty old 286 machines in the attic, enough broken moniters to make a video-wall, and several Sun boxes from the 80's. We never have been able to do anything with them, just put them in the attic. Now, it's almost too crowded to walk up in there, and there are more important, chemistry-related instruments needing the storage space.
This isn't just great because of the enviornmental impact, but also the way it will cut down on all the damn clutter...
--
Feminism is the wild notion that women are human beings.
Sure ,today you're giving out demo songs, tomorrow you'll be suing Justin Frankel.
This is a really neat idea. I have a bunch of old computers sitting around the house, and I've always felt it's a waste to jus through them out, yah know? Yuo just feel bad seeing them sitting there on the curb, wiating for the trash man to come and pick them up.. but at $30.00 a pop I think I just may contact IBM and find out what the stipulations on this are.
30 x [ 486dx66, 16mb ] + beowulf = super computer.
I'm sorry I can't let you do that dave...
P.S. HAL - shift one alpha == IBM, curious no?
There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin
I can see this as primarily a benefit to businesses...for individuals, why not just donate to Freeboxen? (www.freeboxen.com) Then you don't even need to pay the shipping...
When I was photography student, our school was required to save certian chemicals because of the silver content. Photographic films/papers function because of the light sensitivity of silver. Thus the chemical that fixes the image on the film or paper contains a fair amount of unused silver. So the fixer is saved so that it can be sent off and the silver can be reclaimed.
I'd imagine that with all the older electronics out there a fair amount of gold could be reclaimed from the parts.
anything is better than just dumping the stuff in the ground to be forgotten about.
Silly slashdot, sigs are for kids!
...they are recycling!
:))
(Yeah, pretty lame. But I couldn't resist..
now the only thing I got to do is get pass bloody red tape, my job is stupid when it comes to old PC's we cant donate them, I bring up recycling they say its a good idea but... eh of well
If we refuse to be flexible, we are in effect opting out of the game of life. The world moves on without us.
You're absolutely correct there! So many American (and other) "repair" personnel have been told their time is worth more than the cost of the new component, they are taught to replace (usually) rather than repair almost everything. In other countries, those with repair skills or expertise (often self-taught, or taught by peers) actually do REPAIR parts. Their skills and knowledge are seen as very valuable, even if their wages (if any) don't reflect that value. (Then again, just having a source of regular income is valued by workers in many of the countries where used equipment ends up.)
I knew many persons in a global organization who used to take their laptops (wrapped in a towel) with them every time they went to any African country, and routinely left them there. (This was a nonprofit, private group.) Each member would simply buy a new laptop on arriving back home. Those laptops were valued extremely highly by the communities which received them, despite all the bother of getting them charged where electricity is intermittent, and keeping them repaired when few experts are around. Some schools in the poorest nations have only 2-3 ancient (PC jr., even!) machines for hundreds of eager students, donated by volunteers.
In fact, if you're ever about to travel to such a country, please search the Web for pleas for those about to travel to act like a courier to take old used computers (already donated) with them: Just shipping them, without anyone on hand to shepherd them through customs, means they won't arrive at their destination!
Damn man! You're just being cruel to yourself and your machines by starving it for memory! On average I have something like 210 megs of memory per machine! And that's not enough sometimes! You hear the machine start to knock on the HD, screaming its clickety-clack pain to the world, and you know you're a bad, bad man.
Get thee to a online merchant NOW! Memory is dirt cheap!! Spend three hours of your pay to get that puppy from 64 to 192! End the pain! The suffering! Think of those achingly overused bits in your swap!
.sig: Now legally binding!
yeah, they say they can track you with the serial number, but you could scratch it off and dump it at safeway - or take a serial number off a pc from a "friends" house
now i can hold the world hostage like a villain from captain planet with all the old 14" monitors in my basement!!!
PH33R M3!
...dave
Think different? I'd be happy if most people would just think...
I have attached a bit of text from http://www.c4kids.org. If you want to read more and discover the specifics, please visit the site. Rest assured that distribution of state surplus via refurbishing by inmates is a great public partnership. Even better is the Wilderness Technology Alliance's involvement in the process of training students in technology use and practice... as well as their involvement in the larger C4Kids effort.
***************
State agencies, community colleges and universities now have two options for the disposal of their surplus computers and computer related equipment:
Donation - Contact Mark Dhaenens, Computer Refurbishing Program Manager with the Department of Corrections by phone (509) 244-6824 ext. 6400 or FAX (509) 244-6735. Indicate the kind of equipment you wish to donate, contact person and phone number. Arrangements will be made for pickup of all of your equipment by Correctional Industries; you will not need to separate the equipment into "high-end" or "low-end" machines. Refurbished equipment will then be distributed to Educational Service Districts for donation to public schools [see process below]. Each agency will be responsible for tracking their donation activity. Do not submit a Surplus Property Disposal Request (267-A) to the State Surplus Property Program. In order to ensure equity, there are to be NO direct donations of surplus computers or computer-related equipment by state agencies, community colleges and universities to school districts outside of this process.
State Surplus - Fill out a Surplus Property Disposal Request (267-A) and submit to the State Surplus Property Program. Arrangements will be made to pick up or otherwise dispose of the property. Surplus computers picked up by State Surplus will be resold to other state agencies, governmental entities, private non-profits or the general public.
Through a partnership with the Wilderness Technology Alliance, Computers for Kids-Washington will now expand its focus to obtain more surplus equipment from private corporations. Much of this additional surplus will be refurbished by students in school-based programs across Washington State. This adds many new dimensions to "Computers 4 Kids -- Washington":
The Wilderness Technology Alliance will be responsible for coordinating most donations from private industry. They will work with the Alliance for Education, Puget Sound Works, and other non-profits, to get this equipment into school-based computer refurbishing programs across Washington State. School selection will be based upon priorities set by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. It will include public schools, private schools, and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools.
The Wilderness Technology Alliance (WTA) will be coordinating with the Office of Vocation Education and other existing school-based programs to create a comprehensive curriculum in computer hardware refurbishing. This curriculum will be available to high schools across Washington. Besides refurbishing the equipment and deploying it in their school district, students will learn the skills necessary to challenge the A+ certification exam. With this industry standard certification, the doors to many high paying, high technology jobs will be open to these students.
***************
"We're a wicked throwaway society." Plastic packaging and fast-food containers may seem wasteful, but they actually save resources and reduce trash. The typical household in Mexico City buys fewer packaged goods than an American household, but it produces one-third more garbage, chiefly because Mexicans buy fresh foods in bulk and throw away large portions that are unused, spoiled or stale. Those apples in Dittersdorf's slide, protected by plastic wrap and foam, are less likely to spoil. The lightweight plastic packaging requires much less energy to manufacture and transport than traditional alternatives like cardboard or paper. Food companies have switched to plastic packaging because they make money by using resources efficiently. A typical McDonald's discards less than two ounces of garbage for each customer served -- less than what's generated by a typical meal at home.
Plastic packaging is routinely criticized because it doesn't decay in landfills, but neither does most other packaging, as William Rathje, an archaeologist at the University of Arizona, has discovered from his excavations of landfills. Rathje found that paper, cardboard and other organic materials -- while technically biodegradable -- tend to remain intact in the airless confines of a landfill. These mummified materials actually use much more landfill space than plastic packaging, which has steadily been getting smaller as manufacturers develop stronger, thinner materials. Juice cartons take up half the landfill space occupied by the glass bottles they replaced; 12 plastic grocery bags fit in the space occupied by one paper bag.
so, uh, yeah - some Mexican families produce a greater initial bulk of garbage, but it's made up of mostly fresh, unprocessed organic food products. which biodegrade extremely quickly, unlike other "organic" products like paper (or worse packaging materials), which has been processed and condensed so that you're basically waiting for a hyperdense portion of a tree to biodegrade. it also lacks othe natural factors (various critters) that will help the process. that will, of course, take longer than a mostly-eaten apple.comparing easily compostable waste mass to plastic and other petroleum waste that will take (at least) many hundreds of years to biodegrade is an absolute farce - it's comparing apples and plastic wrap, and they're just not the same thing.
similar quality journalism pervades the rest of that article. the plastic waste might be lighter day by day, but it doesn't go away, either. when was the last time anybody saw plastic detritus?
i'd also like to point out that a large part of McDonald's waste is carried out of the store by customers, and thus is probably not accounted for with those numbers.
[|]
Just think of the possibilities if we all emptied our closets and created a massive cluster. Hell, I think the /. audience alone could beat IBMs new machine with their old junk.
Ooooh, then we could really kill in the distributed.net contests.
Maybe we can use the lead for a sugar free sweetener like in the middle ages.
As x approaches total apathy I couldn't care less.
I hear shipping the system to IBM with a fake return address is cheaper.
--Charlie
One thing I rarely see mentioned is the need for battery recycling. Those little things are full of lead, mercury, various acids, and all kinds of other nasty stuff (depending on the flavor of battery). Battery rechargers are a good way to keep them out of the environment, but remembering not to just throw them away is the best thing in the end. There are normally places in most cities (I think, at least here in the US) to take dead batteries. Use them!
Posted from the wireless couch.
Do you still have a Tube TV?
Is there a "windows" key on your keyboard?!
DON'T JUST SIT THERE! Call Uncle Vinny's Discount Computer Disposal for all your Disposal Needs!
We'll take all your unused computer equiment, VCRs, DVD Players and home stereos (working order only, please) for the low, LOW price of $14.99 (shipping not included, taxes may apply).
We'll get rid of that out-of-date P3-500 so you don't have to!
*Uncle Vinny takes no knowledge of what open-source operating system or pr0nographic DVDs may be used on your disposed of junk, but don't you worry! it won't be traceable to you! Call 1-800-COMP-U-GON and wait for the black van at the end of your block!
Once IBM has cornered the market on 16 meg 486's, what will we run Linux on?
Above is a goatse.cx link
including Reply and Anne Marie's fake post...
you've been warned.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
I guess the point is that when you send this "junk" on FedEX, UPS or another carrier's trucks, it's going to be a highly efficient use of existing space.
Assuming they're using UPS-Ground service (or equivalent), rail-transport is also used wherever possible - ultra-cheap shipping.