Slashdot Mirror
"eCycling" Pilot Program in 5 States and D.C.
Mr. Slippery writes: "Several /. stories have discussed the problem of disposing of electonic gear laden with hazardous materials. The EPA, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, DC, and about a dozen corporate sponsors have launched a pilot program to collect and recycle computers and electronics. The objective is to collect data to "develop a long-term cost effective system to remove computers (including
monitors & peripherals) and TVs from the municipal waste stream."
(My car is now loaded up with five monitors, 3 old HP RISC worksations, several partial PCs, an old TV, and various parts and pieces for the Baltimore County drop-off tomorrow...if any area geeks are looking to scavange old gear this might be a prime opportunity.)"
Toss out old unix boxen. I've been wanting a PArisc box for years. Don't suppose you'd be willing to ship?
Sometimes they really do need to be thrown out -- let's recycle instead of landfilling!
Is rosy; and her five sisters.
does anyone know a place that can take very old computers in or around cincinnati, theyre taking up too much room...
It's a shame these programs don't put stuff aside so that poor geeks (like - the really poor ones with hand-me-down 386's and the like) can get some old hardware.
:)
Most of these places are just pure break down and destroy. Which makes sense economically, but still..
Perltop - GTK / Perk Desktop environment
What the hell are these bozos trying to do, kill off hamfests?
The proper way to recycle this stuff is to take it to a hamfest.
If you are anywhere near FallsChurch, come to Broad St. There is a huge banner in the
middle of the road that will guide you to the exact location.
If you are in Alexandria, take Leesburg Pike and drive towards Baily's cross-roads, Leesburg
turns to Broad St. Stay on that (please go 25mph, fallschurch is over populated, it is a
residential area, and our cops are broke, hehehe)
For those of you coming from the other side of Leesburg (tyson's corner) just stay on Leesburg
and head towards Falls Church (aim at the Route 66 exit, if you have to.) and you will
land in Broad St.
One of the problems with capitalism is the utter lack of cern with what happens to a product after it has been used. _Every_ product should have its disposial and / or recycling plan sorted out before it is even sold. Anything else is to cohourt disaster with the earth's resources and environment.
Is there such a place in Los Angeles? Need to get rid of two NCD terminals (yes, they do work, but the the display on both isn't the best). They're yours if you can pick them up. junkmail@whistlin.com
The Redundant Technology Initiative have been doing this sort of thing in my hometown of Sheffield, UK for a number of years now.
RTI is an arts group based in Sheffield, England. It started in 1997 with a group of artists who wanted to get involved with information technology, but didn't have the resources to buy computers. So instead they went about getting their hands on trash computers, finding new ways to be creative with old technology, then exhibiting the results.
Now RTI has accumulated hundreds of machines and has raised money to open a media lab, called Access Space where people can learn, create and communicate using trailing-edge technology. At last, after a series of frustrating delays, Access Space finally opened on April 6th 2000.
We had a fairly groovy Wireless Internet Workshop too at Access Space last November.
cogito ergo sig...
Throwing away an HP RISC? A pity. Give that stuff away, or trade something for it at TradeBoxen.
I'm not affiliated with the site, I just swapped some shit there recently.
It's better that it goes in the office than the landfill.
No sig is worth reading.
I would require that the maker pay the refund fees.
We could do Data mining with a shovel and dig up the landfills. Just think we could at last bring down AOL by a forced return of all those CDs they send out.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
We should be reducing our consumption of computing equipment, and thankfully huge performance gains in recent years allow us to own them longer.
Reuse is a great second consideration. You probably have very high standards for you computer's performance...but I bet you neighbor doesn't! GIve the damn thing away to someone who can make real use of it.
Finally recycle. A great first-step approach here would be to start a business that takes disposed of computers, strips them down and uses the parts to create ultra-low-price boxes that can be resold. For example - consider two individuals discarding PCs because of resource starvation in one aspect of their systems. Jimmy drops of a Pentium with a twenty GB hard drive. Ann drops off a PIII with hardly any disk space. Well, combine Jimmy's disk with Ann's CPU and you have the start of a PC that you could actually sell for maybe $200. Of course you would be obligated to cleanly dispose of the parts you don't use, but you get the idea. I'm surprised someone hasn't tried this.
When a site has a small bandwidth limit like this one, I think posting a link to it on slashdot should be considered a DDOS attack, and be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Everybody who thinks that people who THROW AWAY UNIX BOXEN should be banned from posting on slashdot, raise their hands.
Anyone know anything about places like this in New York? Preferably the Rochester area. I mean there are lots of computer folk up here, but no computer recycling I know of. It would help us out a lot if we could pick up some old boxen for servin' small time stuff.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Others may be able to make use of your old PC. There are many places arround the country, like Freebytes in Atlanta.
This sig intentionally left blank.
I see a problem with cost. Proper disposal of a computer in the United States normally costs between $5 and $10, compared to $1 or less in third-world countries.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
People in New Jersey and New York City might be interested in the Trenton Computer Festival next weekend. Lots of old junk to buy/sell/barter/gawk at. Recycling is good, but if someone wanted to pay for your old junk, that's even better.
When I owned my computer store I used to get tons of computers that people would just give me that I wouldn't buy from them I had the whole basement fl of antique computers. You could put a free ad in your local paper and people would probably give you more computers then you could handle.
http://Lenny.com
for older computers, such as the vic-20, some of the really old apple 2 clones, and atari or TI machines, i used to go to the Mile High Flea market in denver. they always had really good selections on the old stuff. last year I picked up a vic-20, cassette player, vicmodem (300 baud even!), and a couple games on tape for $11. then I found a 1541 drive a cople booths over for an additional $5. every time going down there I have seen lots of computers from that era. I picked up a mac plus there once for $14 too :) They have 386s and crap too, and once i found an AT&T machine. it ran some kind of unix. the salesman said it was DOS, but... he pronounced DOS like DOSE :)
www.ban.org
includes photos, a pdf version of the report, and you can even order a 23 minute video.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
I live in Baltimore County, and I've been waiting for something like this. My house has had more roomates than I can count in the past 6 years, and we've collected the electronic junk of people who skipped town, joined the military, or otherwise departed and left us to take care of their garbage. At one point, we had 6 VCR's (including 2 Beta decks) 2 TV's, 4 tape decks, 1 reciever, 2 record players, and a few Nintendo 8-bit decks. None of them worked well enough to use in any capacity. We tried to find some way to get rid of them in a non-destructive way, but since they were broken, donation was out of the question. So there they sit. Except for the 486 and 386 that we took a couple golf clubs and baseball bats to. THAT was a fun afternoon ;) ... ;)
I can't say how happy I am that this is now available, and in my home town no less! and its even cooler that Baltimore County got mentioned on the front page of Slashdot
-----
Here in California it is being proposed that a recycling tax be placed on new computer equipment sold in this state. This isn't like some deposit fee that you get back if you recycle the item either.
Yet Another Confusing Buzzword, from people too lazy to do more than stick "e" or "web" in front of some mangled, ambigious collection of syllables. Here's the real definition
"E-cycling: the inevitable, cyclical, occurance of ill-defined buzzwords formed by mindlessly attaching the letter "e" to some word or pseudo word. See websturbation."
Java is the blue pill
Choose the red pill
As a service ... let's list existing organizations and known recycling methods for computers and other electronics. As techies it is highly in our interest to see the gear we use and love not overly burden the environment we live in .. as techies we should be aware of the effects our actions, the toys and machines we play with etc, have on the environment around us. It's not just a matter of use it and toss it, like the electronics makers would like us to believe.
...
Here's what I know of
http://crc.org - in the SF Bay Area, recycles computers and related stuff, refurbishes whatever it can, donates it back to charity service. Giving equipment to the organization is itself a charitable donation (for which I was about to take about $2500 in donations in this years taxes).
If you are a Fremont CA resident, BFI operates a drop-off center on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8am-4pm. There's a $10 fee for dropping anything off. They accept limited types of equipment (personal computer, portable TV, console TV, plugin stereo systems). Phone is 510-657-3500.
The Recyclery, at the Newby Island Landfill, this is at the I-880/Dixon Landing Road exit, the place where there's a big BFI landfill. They take stuff the Fremont dropoff center will not take. THere's a fee, and they're open mon-sat. Phone is 408-262-1401
- David
My friend is off scavenging for classic Macs and such. Can't beat the kindness of people who know nothing about how their 2-year-old machine can be used for something other than WinXP...
Nationally (Internationally, actually), there is the Share the Technology site which has a great database setup for registering materials available to give away or wanted (primarily by non-profit organizations/NGO's.)
Then, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA... there is what is known as, well, actually there are SEVERAL efforts. I represent one called the Please Take M.E. (M.E.=Materials Exchange) which is a co-operative membership unwanted materials exchange run under the wing of a non-profit charitable organization called CARP, the Creative Arts Resource Project which accepts unwanted materials of MANY different kinds.
CARP is also involved in a collective which is known as the Philadelphia Reuse Collaborative which is an organization of organizations that include a number of organizations that recycle/reuse old computing equipment, give it away, etc.
CARP is ramping up activity majorly right now, and is actively seeking any potentially interested parties, especially in getting the word out to science teachers, art teachers, and hobbyists of all the fun geek and nerd kinds.. robotics, electronics, etc etc etc. so please get in contact or pass on the word to anybody in the region you think may be interested. If you dream of being SRL, Negativland, or on Robot Wars, Junkyard Wars, etc. then you should get involved with CARP.
AND if that doesn't sell you enough, then how about the fact that pleasetake.org is currently hosted on slackware.com? It's gotta be cool. :D
try this
and if anyone wants 14" monitors or 3/486's contact me. free except for shipping.
help out.
Meanwhile, in Finland..
I think there's something to be learned elsewhere as well. So far, if I want to get rid of for example monitors that I don't have time or skill to fix, I have to either pay 5 euros a piece to get them into some place that strips them into pieces and dumps them away - or hope that someone will take them for free and make use of them.
The thing is - I figure any country with at least some history in computers and nerds(wait, isn't that almost every country) needs some place that manages this. The reasons are obvious and it seems to me that it wouldn't be a huge waste of money and it might be a nice step to enviromentalism.
I'd like to see the people working in these kinds of places to include a few with some hardware knowledge...
"Wanted: geek to play around with second hand hardware. Benefits: all the old skool junk you can carry"
The end result would be larger towns having a large hall somewhere at the edge of town where rents are cheap, with a lot of hardware stuff in some sorts of categories. Maybe a few trucks to drive around the country across smaller places, gathering stuff now and then. Some of it will be reused by people wanting to play with stuff. Perhaps the staff might work to fix some things that could be sold for cheap or donated to some place that needs them, like poor countries, schools, clubs etc. Of course some would go to waste, but properly recycled.
The key thing is - don't just gather the materials, gather the potential uses as well. For example, a 486 or even an old pentium might be useless for most places, but consider the geeky uses for such things, consider places that don't have any computers. Value in dollars or euros? Little. Value in practical use? Large to very large.
They have an automated shredding and separation system for electronics. Such systems have been around for a while. A combination of grinders, screens, AC and DC magnets, cyclones, and float tanks separates out ferrous metals, nonferrous metals, dense plastics, and low-density plastics. Once separated, the metals have some value, the high-density plastics have some marginal value, and what's left is no worse than household waste.
CRT recycling is still a problem. There are very few plants that can cut up a CRT and recover the leaded glass for use in making new CRTs.
See, now I read the title, and I thought the article would be a recycling program for Palm Pilots. ;-)
sigs are a waste of space
Every time I see this posted on the 'net I wonder how much HD space around the world is being eaten up by this. A couple kb here, a few kb there ... perhaps this thing has spawned so rampantly that there are literally GIGABYTES of this exact same story sullenly sitting on people's HD's, just waiting to be unleashed again.
...
Then I take a bong hit, laugh my ass off, and start wondering why these people would suffer through reading it, even partially, every time they post it.
Then I start thinking about what would happen if those same people actually started writing their OWN stories instead, and what an incredible wealth of
Then I take another bong hit and realize that its better to reproduce this disgusing, but well written, peice than to have these brain-dead sacks of protoplasm try to form complete sentences on their own.
Computer components are no more dangerous, and in fact significantly less hazardous than many other electronics that are disposed of in much greater quantities. REALLY!, all of a sudden we discover this? NO
This is just a new cause for a person to head a new organization which will be receiving grants from the government and from computer companies who will give money to show off good public relations.
I picked up a moniter and a nice keyboard a few months ago. They go well with the 486/66 that work was throwing out a couple years ago. (Actually I picked up two of them.)
Last week there was an Epson printer, but I was in a hurry, and didn't have time to look at it. I might have taken it, and replaced it with my HP Deskjet 500. :^)
I'm hoping for a 17" monitor next!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
if any area geeks are looking to scavange old gear this might be a prime opportunity
Be careful if you decide to root through the recycling center's collection of old stuff. Many municipalities consider the property their own, making it a criminal act to pilfer from the recycle piles. My own town refuses to let you walk off with recylced computer junk due to hazardous waste laws: It would be like letting you browse through all the discarded pesticides and chemicals, picking the ones you want to take home with you.
eCycling is my Specialized Ground Control Comp A1 equiped with hokey spokes, Garmin GPS, Bike Brain and a 1,000 song sound system.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I've got a few old cases that I don't want to deal with. I'm guessing that these can go to some regular kind of recycling or disposal center since they don't have all the nasty chemicals that pcb's and other components have in them.
What kind of places would take them?
-prator
"Research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing." -- Wernher von Braun
Hi.
I am the original poster of said comment, and take objection to your comment that we trolls cannot form adequate complete sentences "on our own". Despite the fact that you have severe difficulties with grammar and punctuation ("HD's" among other things), I think it is audacious and laughably pompous to claim you are any better.
Good day, sad loser.
This has been happening for a while now in Cary, NC.
I have a website. It's about Macs.
The company that does most of the "ecycling events in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area is http://www.subtractions.net and your not allowed to pick through the old computers at all.
What abou those whose router is a P200 found behind an office building? Whose Dreamcast uses a monitor yoinked form a dump? 1/3 of his riad array is replaced evey month using hard drives thrown out by others? Whose dos nostalgia mashine was also recoverd from a dump? Those with all of their components heatsinked using p1 heatsinks? Please, don't let them pass that act! In addition to increased hardware costs, this will remove technology from my home. And I am not cheap, mind you. I am just a student whose finances are very limited.
I will recycle all Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11, PDP-8, and other PDP computers that are shipped to my recycling center in Oklahoma. There is no fee for this service, and I will gladly provide a signed, notarized receipt that absolves my customers of all liability for their recycled machines. You can rest assured that your machines will be processed properly and will not simply wind up in some landfill.
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
Up here north of San Francisco (and in the city too) it is now illegal to throw away a monitor in your trash. You must take it to a recy10cin center AND pay a $15 fee for them to dispose of it.
There are also place that will take older computer stuff too...laptops are free to turn in, but things like dot matrix printers cost $5-10 to turn in. And large items like copiers are $2 per pound.
Keep it running, re-use..recycle as last resort. And buy USA made if ya can..might just save my job, or maybe your.
Microsoft and the BSA will be inspecting all PCs sent for recycling to make sure that the original OEM CD, manual, Quick Start booklet, registration, hologram, CD-key sticker and cellophane wrapping are included, so they know which PC owners to sue for using the products they purchased.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
For those of you in the Atlanta metro area, check out ZenTech for local computer recycling.