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Dell Offers Curbside Computer Recycling
schm00 writes "A Dell
press release today announced an expansion of thier recycling program. For $15 they will arrange to pick up used computer equipment from your home and transport it to an EPA approved recycler. You can order pickup starting on March 25th. It's nice to see an alternative to the darker side of computer recycling."
They will be glad to pick it up from your home for free with thankful eyes and faces.
Not trolling, but I don't really think this type of business service worth any mention in slashdot. FYI, I donate all now-useless-for-me computer parts to charity (I live in Hong Kong, though. so YMMV in the states or other nation.)
Some will, some won't. To me, the really big question is; how long until it's a realistic option for we computer users who live in the boonies (eg: alaska)?
Old computers either still have enough juice to be usable, or are so old that they are gaining value for collectors (check prices of some Sinclair models). So charity or eBay seem to be better solutions than paying somebody to take stuff away.
Since most computers people are throwing out now are at least 486 level machines, why don't we get them back in working order, put a minimum Linux install on it with a browser and mail client and give them to people who can't afford computers. Most monitors are also usually repairable with a few dollars in parts, with the schematics it's usually something that can be quickly fixed.
Is there an existing non-profit organization that could start a thing like this nationwide?
Also, you could write you time off on your taxes at the end of the year if that mattered to you.
Does this sound workable to anyone?
I'm not 100% on this, but I have always thought that once something is in the garbage it is in the public domain. Once it's at the curb it's fair game. I thought that's why it's not illegal or anything for reporters and PIs and such to search through the garbage of celebrities and others to gain information. Anyone know of anything concrete about this?
Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful
Three Questions 1. What are they getting by doing this? It can be expensive to remove equipment. (Anyone want an IBM 3174? It's going for 99 cents on Ebay.) A couple of commercials might be a better use of the money. 2. What are they doing with the hard drives and are they informing the donators of hardware of this potential worry? Data could be restored, even when fdisked. 3. Who are they going to outsource to pick this equipment up?
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
Now I can properly dispose my old Dell to make room for a new UltraSparcIII :-)
This reminds me of the time my brother and I got into an argument (kinda stupid actually) about the volume verses mass of a computer monitor.
This is a true story!
My grandma had this really old Packard Bell VGA monitor that was basically worthless (soon to be replaced) and my brother threw it in the trash can. I said to my brother, do you think a monitor would float or sink if thrown in a body of water!
We discussed the weight of the monitor and the vacuum tube properties. My belief (at first) was that the monitor would sink as it was very heavy. Well my brother brought up the fact that the CRT tube was a vacuum mass and that it would float!
Well, last year we decided to go fishing at the local reservoir, while we were packing up the fishing equipment I was surprised to see the monitor sitting in the garage (my 80 year old grandmother had gone through the garbage can AGAIN!). We decide to put the monitor to the test so we packed it along with us to the lake. We floated out in our canoe (placed our bets) and tossed it into the lake! To my surprise the damn thing floated! I was pissed but only because I lost the bet.
BTW, the monitor was recovered and properly disposed of.
I work for the Lab ran by Departament of Energy. We have lots of old but still usable computers (on PII 500 level). The only problem is that they cannot be taken offsite for security reasons, and nobody wants them on-site. The security is so tight that when harddrive in one of new Dell boxes had to be replaced, the old broken one couldn't be taken by the serviceman (which is the usual policy).
The problem is thas institutions like this have the biggest stores of old crap and nothing can be done with this.
At my school, I help out with all the computer stuff.
We get so much crap dumped on us as "donations." I get to deal with a lot of it.
If I'm lucky, it will power on and boot up. (If I'm unlucky, it will be missing the CPU or the motherboard will be cracked in half.) Then, usually, the OS is fucked up enough that it needs a reinstall, so I get to search for drivers for random Dell crap from 1996.
Usually I just scavenge mice, keyboards, any 168-pin memory, and CD-ROM drives if they are IDE.
My favorite donation is when some asshole gave in a monitor.
Upon being powered up, a huge 1" arc was visible inside the back. I am told that 1" through air means about 20,000 volts. If you looked at the screen, random points of energy seemed to be sparkling from deep inside. I figured it probably was about to give me face cancer, and something inside popped and started smoking, so I turned it off.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
There's got to be alternatives:
-Give them to people who can't afford a computer.
-Leave them running distributed computing programs in the basement (SETI@Home, etc)
-Give them to me, and I'll take out the hard drive and add it to my array. Monitors would also be great, always need more of those. I'll even pay for the shipping if you want to get rid of it bad enough to pay $15!
Anytime I have old hardware laying around the house that is not worth selling on ebay, I just post an offer to my local LUG mailing list, within 5 mins there are multiple offers to pick it up for free.
I just bought an NEC monitor ( a FP2141SB, its great!). It is TCO'95 approved. Among other things, this requires that it has been designed for recyclability, and the manufacture must have an enviromental program. It appears that more manufacturers are taking enviromental concerns serious. This goes against the enviro-wackos rhetorc and standard knee-jerk news reporting ( one can't violate ones stereotypes after all). But it makes sence, after all the corporate managers and their children must live in this world also. The user manual NEC supplied covers the enviromental impact through the life cycle of the monitor. It might be usfull to contact the manufacturer for disposal information.
In Switzerland they charge you about 5 to 10 bucks per new computer. You can give the old crap back everywhere where they sell electronic goods. Same with refigerators and other electrical and electronical devices. It's easier to dump your stuff at the local dealer than in the nearby wood.
The prices can be found here: www.swico.ch/3d_recycling/doku/d_gebuehr.html