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Dell Offers Curbside Computer Recycling

Posted by timothy on from the new-source-of-ram-and-old-hard-drives dept.

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."

5 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. huh.... by xao+gypsie · · Score: 5, Funny

    shoot, just tell me where you live, and i would be happy to be the computer scavenger...... and i will even do it for free..

    xao

    --


    xao
    http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
  2. For $15, why don't you donate this to charity? by ketamine-bp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.)

  3. Very good by geddes · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I was talking to a friend of mine just yesterday:

    "I have this old broken Monitor that I am going to replace - how can I get rid of it"

    "Well you can either dump it illegally or pay someone to get it recycled"

    "Well, I don't want to break any laws or hurt the environment. Who do I contact? How much does it cost?"

    "Ummm"

    This is a good solution to a dilema that many face - how to recycle thier old computer stuff ethically. This makes it easy and relativly painless - it still seems rediculous to pay to recycle the stuff, but $15 is pretty good compared to going rates.

  4. Security by pdan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  5. Re:I've got an idea....... by toddestan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well do you want to do it? How long do you think it would take to set it up and configure? What happens once you give it to someone, then something craps out? Do you really want to be stuck supporting all these various old computers, each one different than the others?

    Personally, I would not want to spend my day trying to get Linux running on a bunch of 486/Pentium class systems. Supporting the old hardware, obscure drivers for sound, video, and CD. All the flakey hardware too, enough to make me pull my hair out.

    Also, I find that many of the faster computers that get thrown out not because they are too slow it's because they are simply cheap peices of shit. Hell, recently I recycled a 333Mhz machine (eMachine), a 200Mhz machine (Packard Bell), 380Mhz (no-name pile of crap). These computers were plenty fast, but they simply crashed if you looked at them the wrong way. I kept and still use two HPs, a 75Mhz and a 100Mhz which are both rock solid.

    Probably what you would end up doing is taking the best computers in the lot, and trashing the rest because it's too old/too flakey/not supported/not worth the time/simply busted/etc. And you are back to your old problem, what to do with the 9/10 or whatever computers that you don't want?