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What Should I Do With My Tech Junk?
Thomas Matysik writes "I'm attempting to de-clutter my house and I've hit a rough patch: the computer room. I've got a bunch of wires, hardware and software that (I think) were useful at one point in time, but these days it doesn't do much more than take up space. Selling it seems like it'd be a huge hassle and it seems really wasteful for me to just pitch all of this stuff in the dumpster. I've considered giving it away to Goodwill, but I'm afraid that's not the right sort of outlet for this stuff. My question: what should I do with all of my tech junk?"
...and use the cash to fund more future tech landfill, obviously.
I've been working at home as a consultant (software engineering) for over 15 years. Doing a lot of embedded programming, I've accumulated lots of custom and COTS hardware over the years that I almost never use. The problem is the word "almost." On a rare occasion some suspected bug gets reported and I have to dig out some hardware that I haven't used in years and get it working again. After verifying that the suspected bug is really user error, I then pack it away in the basement.
So for me, I just keep everything. It's all worthless, anyhow. How much would someone pay for a Hayes 2400 baud modem? Or a 68040 based Mac running System 7? Or an 802.11 (not a, b, or g) Access Point? I also have early 802.11-draft wireless equipment if that sweetens the deal for anyone. :)
Turn them into a beowulf cluster, obviously.
And use them to sun some distributing computer projects, like folding@home etc.
It depends on where you live, but there may be a flea market specifically for this sort of stuff that you can give away for free. If you are within traveling distance to Boston, MIT holds an event called the "SwapFest" which is precisely that. You need to pay a small fee to sell, and then can give away stuff for free, or actually take money for the more expensive equipment. More info at http://www.swapfest.us/
I mean it, simply bring it to a recycling centre. Older computer junk often has more gold content than newer stuff and they sell it off to companies that can extract it. The older the junk, the better.
As for goodwill, don't bother with anything below P-III class machines or higher. Even that's starting to be stuff they don't take anymore.
I offer up all my old tech garbage to the free section over on craigslist. Never fails to disappear quickly and I'm sure someone's getting use out of it.
Recycle it. Duh.
Throw it away - once you get over the thought of it being wasted you will feel better about not having it anymore.
There are places online that you can ship your tech junk to and they will recycle it. For a small fee they will also destroy any data containing devices.
I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
Have you considered recycling it?
Similar programs exist elsewhere in the civilized world. STFW and you'll probably find somewhere nearby that will be happy to take your junk off of your hands.
What they will do with it is anybody's guess, but at least it won't be sitting around your house any more.
Recently came across a couple of boxes of old-skool Mac SCSI peripherals -- hard drives, scanners, 100mb magneto-optical disks and drives, 650mb CD burners (can't handle the 700mb discs), cabling of all kinds. Who uses this stuff anymore?
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
That's how I've gotten rid of most of my accumulated junk.
Rgds
Damon
http://m.earth.org.uk/
Apparently, whatever you do, don't send it to Africa!
In my local area we have a charity group that takes old electronics and recycles what they can and then properly disposes of what they can't use.
If you can't find such a group in your local area then maybe that is a sign that you should start one up yourself.
Put it in a box on the street with a label saying "Random cables and computer stuff, £10". It will be nicked in seconds.
I'm glad you specified that it was tech junk. Otherwise my suggestion would have been to get someone to kick it.
And make disposal their problem.
Other than that, it's junk. If you live in a poorer area and you think someone might be able to use it, then you can donate it somewhere...Or if you're completely bleeding edge and your old crappy gear is still pretty modern, you can try and ebay it...but by and large old equipment isn't useful for much.
Don't throw it in the trash though; computer stuff is pretty toxic, and there are lots of good things that can be recycled out of it.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Both organizations wised up to it -- people were dumping electronics that may or may not have worked on volunteer workers who don't know technology enough to figure it out. They then were saddled with the cost of getting rid of it.
Neither organization will take computer equipment or anything but the most basic of electronics anymore.
Most cities have recycling days where you can get rid of stuff at zero or near zero cost.
I Craigslist anything of value to try to get a few bucks. Anything with no value I put up for free on Craigslist (there are whackos on there who will take damn near anything just because its free!).
Anything leftover goes to the town recycling day.
I have a ton of old computer parts as well. Basically, enough old stuff to make 5-6 computers with (old and slow computers, but functional). But I'm moving at the end of the month and don't really want to get involved with moving this stuff. So one day, I'm walking in a part of the neighborhood I'm not usually walking in, and I found a sign for a summer computer day-camp. AH! I haven't called yet, but I'm pretty confident they could make good use of my old computer parts.
...one great strategy seems to be leaving all your tech "junk" in a conspicuous spot near the curb just before bed. Unless you're in an extremely quiet neighborhood, it seems there's *always* someone around who's interested in an old 486 tower or a Franklin Ace machine. I've used the same method a few times, and it seems that there's always some old-school hacker prowling the streets at 3AM hoping to score some vintage hardware or parts.
It's either that, or homeless people have learned how to eat 25-year-old 5 1/4" floppies of pirated Apple II games...
Call the high schools and community colleges in your area and donate it there. They often have classes that teach novice users the basics of system design, diagnostics and repair.
Adult arts and crafts too.
A motherboard and paint makes cool artwork.
Disk platters are good for all kinds of things.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Freecycle it.
I've come to really appreciate the power of Freecycle.
You give stuff away, so it's kinda like taking it to the charity shop, except that (a) the person who gets it is usually someone who really wants it, and (b) they come and pick it up, so you don't even have to take it anywhere.
And if you post it on freecycle and no-one is interested, then you can do what you were planning anyway and take it to the charities.
So consider freecycle for this. And if you're doing a mass clear-out as you said in your post, I'd suggest considering it for all the other stuff you're getting rid of.
who is into playing with hardware. It will give them a chance to play with things that they might not get to experience otherwise.
Find a public school near you and ask if they can use something. Maybe some of the hardware is too old, even for them, but they probably can use some extra RAM, CAT5 or USB extension cables.
trans corpus mortuum
If you're near a Free Geek co-operative (http://freegeek.org/family.php), they'll take your old hardware off your hands and either refurbish it for the poor, or make sure it gets properly recycled.
As long as the computers are at least a Pentium III class computer, donate it to a school. What they don't take, recycle the rest.
There are some good ideas on this page: http://www.heartsandminds.org/links/computers.htm or there is always: http://www.freecycle.org/
I mean it, simply bring it to a recycling centre. Older computer junk often has more gold content than newer stuff and they sell it off to companies that can extract it. The older the junk, the better. As for goodwill, don't bother with anything below P-III class machines or higher. Even that's starting to be stuff they don't take anymore.
I agree with one exception: CRTs. I replaced two home CRTs with two nice LCD screens and wasn't sure what to do with them. Assuming no one would want them, I looked up recycling them which turned out to be pretty expensive.
Since they both worked, I took them down to the thrift store near my house and asked them if they'd take them. They said as long as they worked they would sell for $20 or so.
Goodwill is a piece of work. They sift through the donations and fleabay the valuable bits so they can make more money to run their top heavy corporate backend. Just like donating to a big corporate charity only worse. Find a smaller local thrift store and donate it to them. Computer geeks like myself and others often frequent thrift stores and appreciate a good deal.
I have bought great stuff at local thrift stores. My Vintage IBM 701CS (butterfly keyboard) came from a local thrift store. I also have an original older vintage IBM buckling spring keyboard that had been covered by a plastic keyboard cover for many many years that is in pristine condition underneath. Fun Vintage stuff without the stupid vintage price. If you enjoy older Vintage computing stuff find yourself a local thrift store and start going through their stuff. You have to go a "few" times before you find anything worthwhile.
Its not just "poor" people who shop at thrift stores so don't think your items won't be put to good use.
You need to find out what you have in there. CAT5 cables are good forever, where as it'll be kind of hard to give away a GeForce 2. You need to sort out the junk and ID as much as you can. Anything that holds some value can be sold or given for charity.
Schools and colleges in the UK have strict rules about electrically safe equipment. This leads to quite the reverse where they throw out expired but still relatively nice computer kit, awaiting salvage by dumpster diving geeks.
They definitely won't take your junk though.
Don't put it in the dumpster. It will just pollute the environment a bit more, especially tubes like CRT's. In fact, in Houston, it is verboten to put your electronics in the regular trash.
It's a hassle to take it to the recycle center, but that's the best thing to do.
"The mind works quicker than you think!"
In the Baltimore area, there's the Greater Baltimore Hamboree and ComputerFest every spring. My uncle, an electrical engineer, took me once when I was in high school, and I've been back several times since.
It's a blast! Make sure you browse the outdoor tables, too. This place really exemplifies the adage "One person's trash is another person's treasure."
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
Can people list recycling centers they've used. I'm in Michigan and have been sitting on a dead monitor for a year with no idea where to take it.
I heard that's the in thing.
Personally, I think you should show so patriotism and choose a local river.
In my area, we have a handful of recycling centers for computers. And no, this isn't just 'dust it off and resell it' - rather shred it to base metals and sell those.
Check around, there may be one near you as well...
Batman will tech your junk liberally...
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I recycle by burning all my old junk; turning crap directly into carbon. The more junk you have the better, preferably stuff that burns really well. If not just chop down a few threes and make a great fire that will melt anything that doesn't burn. By doing this not only do you save the environment the burden of driving the stuff to a landfill; you also have a nice backdrop for a summer party. What could be cooler than burning a heap of potentially toxic materials.
The Long Now Foundation
I would suggest donating it to one. I attend freegeekchicago.com its amazing what we have there. The hardware goes to a good cause. We put old hardware together to make a computer. We then put linux on them and sell them for 50$ w/ mouse, keyboard and monitor. We also recycle e-waste, which is why we charge 50$. We also donate some computers to other non-profits and schools in need.
Depending on your location, there may be a free geek recycle center close to you. There is one about 10 miles away from me in PA, though they are based out of Oregon.
to form the white trash version of Voltron.
Monstar L
I moved from 5yrs ago and gave 40 PCs, 2 servers, network hardware, AIX and HP, plus racks along with software (OS) to communtity center that was teaching computer repair and helping people get certifications. They did sell some, used other and then placed the last into class room.
8yrs before that, I gave 15 PCs plus network hardware to the Boy Scouts. They used it to work on Merit Badges for computers. If the equipment broke, no one home equipment was damaged.
Send it all to this guy: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=641559&cid=24549983
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 Race
12112
Freecycle is a good place to get rid of stuff, ebay if it has any sell able value. freegeek is another
http://freegeek.org/
If you are in a good mood, why not donate it to a local charity - either for them to use or for them to donate to someone else. This may bring in pennies for you but to someone in need of it, it could be a blessing.
Take it to http://freegeek.org/ (in Portland, OR) or the like, if you have such a place in your locale. "Helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the 3rd millennium."
How does electrical equipment "expire"? Are the power supplies marked "throw out after 10,000 operating hours" or do new computers come with a warning label "not for use in schools 5 years after date of manufacture"?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
http://www.officedepot.com/promo.do?file=/promo/pages/0928_recycling.jsp
For a "nominal fee" you can drop it off there to be recycled.
Prof. Farnsworth - "Oh a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!"
Short answer is...at some point, you really do have to say fuck it, and throw it in the trash.
Once I've accepted that, my home suddenly isn't cluttered, has more space and room for me to actually use the stuff I do have that is useful!!
At some point, it IS worth it to throw it all to the curb, and let the garbagemen take it away.
At the very least, put the stuff you think might be useful outtside or on top of the cans. Down here in New Orleans...often that stuff will disappear overnight. I've left old monitors and computers and gear out overnight for the trash, and very rarely do I ever see it in the morning still on the pile. If the stuff isn't good enough for the dumpster divers, then off it goes to 'trash land'.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Find your local Freecycle chapter.
People will take anything you give them.
See http://www.freecycle.org/
Kriston
Kriston
For a lot of old computers there is somewhat of a cult following, so the obvious answer is to take the old computer and bundle it with the software and perhaps a few cables and sell it on Ebay or Craigslist. You may not think your C64 is worth anything, but there is someone who will pay $25 for one in good working order. You think your Apple ][ is nothing more than a paperweight yet someone else thinks it is worth $15. You say it would be too hard, but, you need to realize that there are a lot of people who collect and/or use old tech. Not to mention that if you strip out all the insides, having an Apple ][ as a case would be cool for a whitebox computer....
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
http://www.officedepot.com/a/promo/pages/0928_recycling/
Put yo junk in that box...it's yo tech in a box!
Ive been working on computers since i was 12 (im 21) and 50% of everything i learned has been from computers people gave me. :( )
I think one of the most beneficiary things you could do is put an add in the paper for some kid to come and take it. Especially if its routers/switches, mobiles devices. You could give someone the chance to learn from equipment that they cant afford to buy (or their parents). I know that myself getting stuff like that helped me get the IT job i have today. And Every chance i get I try to pawn my computer 'junk' off on a kiddy so he has a chance to mess around with different technology. Some of the things I always liked to get:
- Sparc Stations (non PC platforms are like tech pr0n)
- routers/switches (anything to connected computers together, token ring? i never got any of that
-scsi (een if its old, its still the whole point, an old scsi storage unit, or tape drives)
- laptops, PDAs, (always fun to have)
- odd systems (486DX with Overdrive(R) technology) Even the old computers are still fun (386 with scsi ?)
- old servers (especially)
the plus side to this, is then you dont hav to worry about throwing it away, and you'll be Serving a full portion to a kids appetite for knowledge. Hope this helps
Donate it to Cuba
...will know what to do with your odds and ends. Find a teacher that's passionate about teaching. (They still exist in most places, but are rare. One that runs a science club in their own time would be a good bet).
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Put it all in a big box, and leave it in the nearest Walmart parking lot. They'll take care of it for you.
I recently gave a box of motherboards/nics/videocards, an old Cisco ISDN router, and some other junk I had lying around to a Technical program at the local high school. I went there with the intention that they'd cull out the good stuff and I'd figure out what to do with the rest but they were excited to have it all. The instructor said that between the electronics kids looking for components for projects and the computer kids who needed stuff that they could break without repercussions it was almost all useful. YMMV.
"Would you, could you, with a goat?" Dr Seuss
Depending on where you live there may be a hackerspace that would be more than happy to receive a donation of your unused electronics/wires. hackerspaces.org is the site to see if there is one in your area.
The great internet migratory box of electronics junk. Here
I saw something about this place on the Planet Green tv channel. The thing that I had saw on tv was how they recycle old cd's and make them into cd cases, but they take all sorts of unwanted electronics stuff.
Here is the site
http://www.greendisk.com/
Well, if its only old crap, just take everything to a SWICO Recycling collection point and leave it there.
At least if you happen to live in Switzerland.
I hear Theo wants to port to your toaster and Nick Holland needs more coax for his 10base2 network.
While attending school at Penn State, there was a small club that was run by the students. It was known as CHIP (Computer Hardware Initiative Project) and I believe it is now known as the ReTekProject. (retekproject.org). However, I do not know if the project is still ongoing or if the site is still up. In short, they took in donations and rebuilt the machines for use by the needy and/or charitable organizations. It is quite possible that similar programs exist at other Universities, I would pose some of the questions there. (use caution when checking the retekproject website. It is blocked at my office, and though even some of slashdot is blocked here, I do not know if that site is still valid or if the club is defunct)
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
I've moved three times since University.
Each time, I've found that the easiest way is to just put up an add on Craigslist to the effect of:
"3 bins of random computer stuff, come and get it. You have to take all of it if you want any of it."
Most times, I'll have someone over to the house that evening.
I'l usually do a quick pass over the bins and remove any data storage devices, or anything that may have some value on its own (video card, ram, etc) that I can sell seperately.
Lot's of choices with a google search
If you have a laptop, get a free vacation
Several years ago I retired my PIII and I looked around. The United Way had an electronic donation group a near my job, where they refurbished and redeployed old stuff. They got my PC, scanner and printer (which I warned them about, but they wanted anyway). Like usual, I got to take something off of my taxes.
I don't know how much usefulness they got from it, but I tried.
Earlier this year the office park I was in sponsored some recyclers to show up and take old stuff. They got an old 17" monitor.
Personally I prefer to donate with the hope that someone, somewhere is going to be better off. But recycling is still way better than just trashing stuff. Even if you know that they're making a profit off of your stuff, at least it isn't going into a landfill.
- doug
When I was in college I noticed the extreme speed with which just about any sort of electronics would disappear from the side of the road. One day we took an old computer case, emptied it out, and poured in about 8" of concrete. That sucker was heavy, but it disappeared the first night it spent out front.
Another entertaining event, I was visiting a friend, and we noticed that a car parked on the street a couple houses down had had all 4 wheels stolen, but rather than just the usual concrete blocks to prop the car up, they had used a couple of old and really heavy duty computer cases.
Nothing is truly useless if you use your imagination.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Some of us are looking for old and rare pieces of hardware, you never know. You may have something worth at least a few dozen $$$.
Some Goodwill locations take old computer/electronics stuff and recycle it themselves, so even if it's really old and completely broken, they'll take it.
Some Goodwills do this recycling, some don't - I know that all of ours near Austin, TX do.
http://www.Freecycle.org/
Freecycle is a group of mailing lists where people just give things away. This covers the area where things are 'too good to just throw away' and 'never going to be used again.'
Each Freecycle list is local, so people are within driving distance to pick it up. Amazing what people will take. I recently moved a pile of pre Pentium II machines and another pile of original Mac Pluses that had been gathering dust around the office. People who picked them up were happy to get them.
Some large cities have charity stores or stores-within-a-store that sell computers and computer parts. Some of the stuff they sell is truly vintage or specialized.
Most of them contract with recyclers for the stuff they can't sell, such as broken equipment, the lot of 100 monitors someone donated that they don't have room for, etc.
There's also weekend computer fairs in many major cities every quarter or more often.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Goodwill is your best option. I've volunteered before at the Goodwill Computerworks here in Austin where almost all or most computer parts are shipped within the U.S. from all of their locations nationwide. They have a large warehouse and sort through everything, will test most components and have 3rd party businesses buy the scrap parts to extract the metals from, etc. They make sure almost all of the parts donated are recycled in an environmentally friendly way.
Over the weekend put it all in a big box, haul it over to the curb, and put a "free" sign on it. Then apply the many suggestions above to whatever is left over.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
Find a local college with a computer program such as networking or forensics, etc. Ask the professors if they want some legacy equipment to test or use in class. I have taught computer forensics for some time and due to changes in technology, some of my students have no idea why some of the software tools work the way they do until they can see how legacy equipment works and then understand why established tools take into account many outdated technologies. Plus, if you can make a donation to the school of your old equipment, they may be able to give you a receipt so that you can take a tax deduction. Of course, you should check with a tax attorney or accountant to CYA. Otherwise, consider Craig's List or eBay.
A couple years ago, my dad put out our old IBM 8088 pc, with cables, printer, software and everything. It still worked as far as I know. It was gone pretty quickly...
Just as a follow-up ... anyone considering taking e-waste to a recycler should first check to see if the recycler is listed here as having been approved by the Basel Action Network (an anti-dumping group). The list includes "e-Waste recyclers that have agreed to adhere to strict criteria [...] The criteria require that no hazardous electronics equipment or parts (as defined internationally) will be exported to developing countries or be processed by captive prison labor, and that none of it will end up in landfills or incinerators."
As far as I know, it's the only (somewhat) reliable way to know that a "recycler" isn't just exporting the trash to the developing world. Many recyclers talk a lot about the environment, but don't give very many specifics about what actually happens to e-waste you drop off (besides vague platitudes like "in accordance with all State and Federal laws" which means little given how minimal most laws concerning e-waste are). That's because they may just be loading it into containers bound for the other side of the planet.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
For my girlfriend's birthday, I took all my old ram and made a picture frame out of it. I guess it helps to have a geeky girlfriend too because she wears a belt made of SATA and she made her own wallet out of soft keyboard circuity. I've also seen other people make clocks from hard drives or taken bleach and motherboards to reverse print t-shirts. Still, I'm a fan of the picture frame.
Here's what I do. Put your stuff on the curb the day after the garbage truck shows up so it will sit there for the next six days. Put a note on it.
Air Conditioner: Free. Works but it's a bit noisy, but yours if you want it.
Lawn Mower: Free. A bit smoky, has a loose rear wheel. Yours if you want it.
Those are two I've done. Both went somewhere before the next garbage day. Just stick a note on it and say it's free, and what might be wrong with it. I'd try something like this:
Old computer stuff: Free. Outdated, but worked the last time I used it. Yours if you want it.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Sure, there's something to be said for using them as an educational tool, but again, you're still better off getting a newer high powered box and just running a virtualization environment on it to mess around with distributed parallel computing environments.
I'm not so sure this is true. When considering the purchase of a brand-new computer, you need to take into account not only it's "running cost", but also the energy involved in its manufacture.
An older computer might use more energy to operate, but if you already own it, it might make sense to continue using it. A brand new machine may well be more efficient, but will come with a huge 'manufacturing debt' that it has to make up before it's really saving any energy. It takes huge quantities of energy to manufacture a new PC and all the components that go into it.
From a purely economic perspective, all that energy equals money -- you can buy a lot of electricity for the cost of a new PC. If you're not running a machine 24/7, it may not make sense to upgrade it simply for more efficiency, either for environmental or cost-reduction reasons, until it's well and truly obsolete and has to be replaced anyway.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
You want too much tech junk in your tech trunk.
One word (site): freecycle.org
It's a community hand-me-down system, in effect. People in the local freecycle groups (me among them) give away and receive computers and parts all the time.
http://www.staples.com/sbd/content/about/soul/recycling.html
Staples offers in-store recycling for tech trash. There's a ten dollar charge for bigger stuff like monitors, printers, and PC's, but smaller stuff like keyboards, mice, and speakers are free. You'd be surprised at what getting rid of just the old keyboards and speakers did for my office. They also take only cell phones, pagers, cell phone batteries, etc. I've dropped off a few phones, sans SIM card of course.
Staples also has an ink and toner recycling program. It's gotten to be more of a pain in the ass lately, but it's still worthwhile. If you bring in an original HP, Dell, or Lexmark ink or toner cartridge, you get a $3.00 credit on you staples rewards card. Once you get at least $10.00 worth of rewards, you get a check in the mail.
You can only drop them off three at a time, but last month I able to turn our collection of used toner into $30+ dollar rewards check that I used on some supplies for non-profit I volunteer for.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
donate it to the Disabled American Veterens
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I'd love to think that there's some 8-year-old kid out there crouched in front of an old monochrome amber monitor yelling "XYZZY!" "PLUGH!" and "THESE TWISTY PASSAGES ARE ALL ALIKE!" instead of bitching about how all his friends have an XBox 360...
Hi,
Check out freecycle, its an online group that's like ebay but has one rule: no money may be exchanged. I think its actually more like give-away than barter-and-trade, but its neat.
From Wikipedia:
[quote]The Freecycle Network (often abbreviated TFN or just known as Freecycle) is a non-profit organization registered in the state of Arizona, USA, and separately registered as a UK charity,[1] that organizes a worldwide network of "gifting" groups, aiming to divert reusable goods from landfill. It provides a worldwide online registry, and coordinates the creation of local groups and forums for individuals and non-profits to offer and receive free items for reuse or recycling, promoting gift economics as a motivating cultural outlook. "Changing the world one gift at a time" is The Freecycle Network's official tagline.[/quote]
They have chapters around the world, research the rest (Google + Wikipedia for the Germany, UK, etc. groups), but for the US, its apparently:
http://www.freecycle.org/
There are now plenty of locations that will collect and recycle your electronic waste. All you have to do is google it and find one near you.
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
Easy. Make a pile, buy some gasoline, and have a bonfire. That's what I do. It works great. Then I bury the ashes and unburned metal.
As a tech guy who works for Goodwill, I'd like to encourage you *not* to donate it to Goodwill! Our Goodwill, and many of our sister organizations, are prohibited from disposing of electronic waste in our local landfills (and rightly so!). As a result, any electronics that are unable to be sold through our donated goods retail programs must be disposed of thru an EPA approved recycler or disposal company.
The short of it is, we have to pay to get rid of the overwhelming majority of electronics that are donated to our organizations. Every penny we spend on disposal fees actually takes away money from our employment and mission programs; donating unusable electronics to Goodwill actually harms the community that the receiving Goodwill is trying to serve. Studies by Goodwill Industries International are increasingly showing that, insofar as computer waste is concerned, donated electronics cost us more money to process and to properly dispose of than they make us in revenue from reselling at our stores.
So, if you truly are interested in helping support your local Goodwill, please do not donate your computer electronics. DO donate your clothes, jewelry, shoes, and other such household items, we will try to turn those donations in to good jobs and good mission programs.
www.freecycle.org
They will even come pick it up
Check to see if there's a tech-type nonprofit in your area - a 'Computers for Kids', PC recyclers for older folks getting into college for the first time, that sort of thing. You'll get a credit for your income taxes, and you'll be helping other people.
--- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
Call your local community college and ask if the electronics programs can use the parts. Those guys are usually happy to salvage free stuff.
They have many links to local and national outlets to recycle computers and electronics, and many of them are free or low cost:
http://www.epa.gov/e-cycling/donate.htm
I am looking for a quadra 900 or 950 :)
brickspeed.net for your old Volvo performance addiction
Mail it to someone! Check out tgimboej.org -- The Great Internet Migratory Box of Electronics Junk, conceived by the wacky cats at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.
As a previous scout, I appreciate you doing that, but unfortunately the current computers merit badge isn't hardware at all... I don't think it was in my day either. The new copyright requirements are hilarious, if only we had iPods back then...
Here in Toronto (and in other cities across Canada), there is an organization called reBoot which receives donations, refurbishes or reconfigures and distributes tech equipment to charitable organizations and non-profits.
I don't have direct experience with them (doing the same thing myself on a small scale with friends' junked machines and boxen I scrounge from the curb), but the shelter my wife runs has received numerous machine from them over the last few years.
There may be an equivalent organization in your vicinity.
Vacuum-bag your electronic junk.
Go out camping in a rugged area.
Dig a hole, and bury your stuff.
Gather some rocks and place them in a cool design on top of your electronics.
Cover the rocks with more dirt.
That should be enough to screw with the heads of future archeologists.
Depending on your area Goodwill might not be a bad option. In Austin Goodwill Computer Works is setup specifically for this and takes donations from businesses around town. They even have a computer museum next door.
It always makes me smile to find that someone thinks they can pawn your old Okidata dot matrix printer/floppy collection/monochrome monitor
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
Goodwill is the perfect outlet. Over the years I have picked up all sorts of random computer stuff from the goodwill. Joysticks, old software, network cards, commodore stuff, etc... As of late I see monitors, computers, printers, scanners, keyboards, and the like at goodwill and other thrift stores. They also use some of the stuff in vocational rehab programs. By far it is the easiest way to unload a bunch of stuff that will eventually find a new home.
If you are cool, you will bundle or package things in a way so that cords, disks, etc are with the right hardware. Even cooler you could slap on an OS and a bunch of software on one of the machines you are giving away so when someone turns it on they are greeted with a happy machine.
And the cool thing is all you have to do is drop the shit off!
Talk to your local school district and see if they want any and/or all of it. Often schools have a bunch of legacy equipment that they have to keep running because they don't have the budget to upgrade, not to mntion that things like keyboards and mice jave a signifcantly shortened lifespan in educational settings. Now, this obviously worked better with the poorer school districts, but I can't even begin to tell you how much tech junk I've offloaded on a inner-city school district, and they were glad to have it...even old dinosaurs of computers, if it was fast enough to run Word/OOO, then that was another computer they could put in the library/lab. In fact, at least in San Jose, there used to be a charity that would take everything in at a warehouse, refurbish it and then distribute it to schools from there.
I needed a sig so people would know who I am, but I was too drunk to make something witty, so you get this instead.
I use boxes to put gear in, store and forget them. Use an old diary to write what is in the boxes so you don't have to dredge through them to find something that you may need. If you are storing a new box and you see one with a expiry date on it that hasn't been used then you can send it of for recycling. It gets rid of a lot of crap.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
This is so true. A few year ago I had to relocate from my home of 8 years. I used to have a slight problem with buying obsolete computer gear at auctions etc...
I put most of the bulky or pricey items on ebay as an experiment. What sold well surprised me at the time:
- a box of 5 C64s, disk drives, tapes drives and various pirated disks (two guys got into a bidding war and the winner eventually paid a fortune to ship them - there was more then 25Kgs worth)
- About 6 DEC terminals from a hospital. monochrome, some worked (I just *had* to set them up ;) I threw in the matching wide carriage printer
- 8 Mac PPCs, really old ones, like 75s or something. I threw in an similar vintage macbook.
- A bag of 30pin SIMs from like 386 / 486 era PCs
What didn't sell well (or at all):
- Some last generation geforce video cards. Couldn't give them away.
- various but modern RAM and a last generation althon CPU.
- Any PC CRTs (no surprise really)
Soooo... The point is if you can wait like 20 years it'll sell!!! so wait
also, there was great fun in taking the remaining stuff to the dump and smashing the hell out of it. The looks you get from people when you and your buddy hurl a 20" sony CRT into the pit then throw PC boxes and PSUs at it until it finally breaks is priceless.
Then at some point your wife will demand that you get rid of some of that junk.
Considering the alternative, you will find it quite easy to decide what to throw out, and quickly, before bedtime...
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
I used to have a whole room full of old computer junk. The trick I found was to throw away all the packaging and just put everything in a wardrobe and pile the pc's ontop of each other. There was so much packaging it filled about 1/8th of the room (in volume) when removed from the hardware. Also sell the more modern stuff, I recently sold two outdated (to me) graphics cards on Ebay and got about £60. It may be worth getting into a habit of selling gear asoon as you have finished with it to maximise money. As for electronics get the cheapest electronics storage cabinets and buy 4x as many as you think you need and spend a week sorting all those resistors.
As Someone who works at a Catholic School, I can testify that most will be more than willing to accept almost anything they can get their hands on. They run on a very very limited budget. To give an example, the Computer lab at one school I helped at consisted of 18 400 Mhz Gateway PCs running windows 2000.....and yes, that's still the current state of affairs, they simply can't afford new PCs....yet, on the other hand, they provide personal attention to students and someone those students STILL improve drastically when they leave the public system.... I know most schools I've been to would love to get their hands on what most people on slashdot consider junk!
I volunteer at my local Goodwill and I've seen many, many people gratefully snatch up used PCs and assorted gear. You get a good tax break, you put much needed gear in the hands of people who will appreciate it and the numerous drop-off points make it easy to deliver it to them.
dunno where you live, but somebody above mentioned goodwill here in austin, tx. we've got goodwill computer works where they take all kinds of tech stuff. and not that anyone here on /. would need it, but goodwill even provides a guide to donating your machines.
If you have something like Freegeek (http://www.freegeek.org/) near you you can take it there.
Look for a reason to smile you jaded #*^ *(%$
Deviant Art
... my old pr0n. I mean, no one really wants decades old Hustlers or Playboys. And now I get all my pr0n the same place everyone else does... download it.
The Salvation Army looked at me funny when I tried to donate it. It's not like I want to leave it out for some neighborhood kid to pick up, and I can't go burning it in the backyard. Invariably some floating ash of boobie will land on someone's windshield.
Every so often, I think maybe, just maybe I'll use it again, but I never have.
All that junk?
All that junk inside yo' trunk.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/junkbox
Add what you can and pass it on
There is a yahoo group named freecycle for your city(most likely) that is filled with people waiting to take your crap away.
I run a scrapyard. We buy insulated wire (cat5, ribbon cables, etc) for around $1/lb. Scrap steel is around 10 cents/lb, but falling now. Circuit boards range anywhere from 15 cents to over a dollar per pound. Aluminum heat sinks, disassembled HDDs, etc are between 50 and 80 cents/lb. Monitors are a tougher issue. I don't know where you'd get rid of the glass, we don't deal with that. The plastic casings pay a premium, but we don't deal with that either. There are copper windings, about 1/2 lb - 1 lb/monitor that fetch $2.50 - $3.50/lb. YMMV. Throwing stuff in a landfill is really a stupid option. If you can find someone to reuse the stuff, I would start there. If not, might as well recycle it and get a few bucks.
Goodwill in Delaware has a computer repair/refurbishing business, so they accept donations of computer equipment and should put it to good use.
I have just started taking old computers and fixing them up to give to families that do not have a computer. I have already fixed up eight of them and to see the kids faces is priceless. Anyone that would like to join the cause shoot me an email.
in addition to freecycle, your area craigslist has a free section
If you can find someone to take it that needs it that is the best. (I think craigslist / freecycle has already been mentioned.) Also, I don't think that Goodwill wants or can deal with obscure tech stuff. My Goodwill doesn't even one complete working systems!!!
http://www.greendisk.com/
Their is a charge, but they are providing a useful service. My time is valuable so this is what I personally use.
I consider properly disposing of my tech stuff an obligation and part of the cost and privilege of owning (once) cool tech gear. I am glad to hear that other people are thinking that way too.
I don't know if there's anything like this in your area, but here in Raleigh, NC there's a group that takes old "junk" and puts computers together for at-risk children, etc. http://www.purpleelephant.org/about.htm maybe there's something similar where you live? I've donated lots, and they give you a receipt for your tax records (bonus).
They're not hilarious. They're completely relevant. Because "copying stuff" is so easy to do with a computer, it is important to have at least some familiarity with the laws regarding what stuff is ok to copy. Further, the basis of those laws is another relevant topic.
You should know not only that you shouldn't copy certain items, but also why it's a good idea that you don't.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Dissenting opinion: I've seen Goodwill trucks pull up to our local transfer station (where stuff is dumped on its way to the landfill) and disgorge a huge load of stuff they couldn't sell in their stores quickly enough for them. I'm not saying it was all, or even mostly, tech items, but I know for a fact that a LOT of what gets sent to Goodwill ends up in the landfill. (And this is in Seattle, where there's lots of environmental consciousness and hugely high dumping rates).
Really, you're far better off putting it on Freecycle, on the Free section of Craigslist, or a local computer reuse non-profit. All of those get your stuff it in the hands of people who want and need it.
We have a swap sale every year at our Linux user group, this is one way to get rid of (or at least trade) tech stuff. At the end of the session we have a pickup truck available for stuff that people (or their significant other) don't want to bring back home. We charge by the pound and take it to the recycling center the next day. The running joke however is that you need to be sure you have your car door locked when you attend our meetings, else you run the risk of having old monitors left in your back seat. :-)
freecycle it...see if there is a freecycle group in your area. http://www.freecycle.org/
If you're in the US and you have small electronics (like obsolete video cards), you can get prepaid recycling envelopes at the post office. See here: http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2008/pr08_028.htm Computer cables are a big question mark for me. Unlike building wire, they don't have enough copper to be particularly valuable. Every new LCD monitor seems to come with a VGA and a DVI cable, only one of which is typically used. That's a lot of cable to be instantly obsolete. Maybe I'll put all the VGA cables in a box and ship them back to Dell.
http://www.freecycle.org/
Your idea of giving it to Goodwill is excellent. In the SoCal area they first see if there's any part worth salvage and the rest is RECYCLED properly. It's a win/win situation. You get rid of nuisance and regain space, Goodwill gets cash for re-usables or supplies non-profits and disposes the rest responsibly.
ldl in LA
In some places this is against the law. I know where I live you are not allowed to put out your garbage until after 4pm the night before pick-up.
So put it out in front of a neighbor's house. At night. When God is sleeping.
I am not a crackpot.
There's also Craigslist... although it's a pain with no-shows, there's a free section and you could put it really cheaply in the computer section.
Of course, that is AFTER you decide to get rid of it. Have you used it in the last year? Then get rid of it, because you likely won't use it this year, or next. Only keep what you're comfortable keeping. Having said that, I have my Windows machine gathering dust, which I haven't booted in about 10 months. I also have a TRS-80 packed up in a box out in the garage. I can't seem to part with it.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
I donate my old gear to charity. In the last 5 years I've donated at least 6 old but working computers to the local recycling center www.mcrc.org . The usable gear goes to someone that needs it, the unusable gear is disposed of properly and I get a tax deduction. The only thing I've had end up in a landfill are my copies of Windows NT 3.5, 4.0, and Win95 because I couldn't even give them away.
"a good job as a sysadmin."
Look to see if there is a Free Geek inspired place near you!
You're never supposed to get rid of that stuff. What do you think attics, garages and basements are for?
... and in the DRM, bind them.
If you've got old windows software (office productivity especially, Quicken 3.0 or whatever) donate it to wine. I threw some of my old CD's away and made a post about it on my blog (*extremely* low traffic blog) and their wine ninjas found it and one of the project dudes mailed me asking to send them the CD's. Unfortunately I had already thrown them away, but now I make it a point to tell people throwing away old software what you can do with it.
--Robert
If its old enough, like late 70's or the early 80's, send it to me.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
O yeah! Sounds like an RIAA type who just cannot STAND to see anybody with a DRM free system. Something without a remotely fuckupable BIOS or similar vidcard would be soooo nice for ordinary peons like us to have, true? This is just what the RIAA and its toadies like the above sockpuppet would like to make illegal. Oh yeah, the excuse for doing it would be some simpering crap like 'save the environment. Most older systems do take some power, but new vidcards put at least two or more old systems in the shade all by themselves. Old systems got by with sixty watt power supplies, some of them. Apple ][ systems got by with even less. Try some of the new so called 'green systems' touted by some foolish souls who were evidently born without the ability to read beyond 'Veeeeesta'. They have 1200 watts of power to their power supplies if one had the ability and the guts to open their cases to have a look. And the new 'flat screens' are not so much better than CRT's. They produce heat. I know, I have all of them. I also know that as 'digital smart devices', they can have buried censorware hidden within them. Since they are all made in China, most of this censorware only looks for material about human rights or 'Falun-Gong', a banned Chinese religion the worship of which is based on Confucianism but has been legally defined as a kind of 'noxious' pornography by a type of 'fiat-law'. Such laws are called 'bills of attainder' and are forbidden in the United States Constitution. So far! Another illustrative example is to pass a law ordering people to believe and practice that black was white, oranges were eggs, and similar outrageous asserverations.
And by the way this spell checker is outrageous in itself, marking as wrong anything above the level of the second grade in United States' primary grade schools.
I use freecycle.ORG and also (in Portland, OR) freegeek.ORG
I have learned that alot of landfills have workers that sort through the trash when it arrives. The trash gets emptied onto a conveyor belt and they go through the stuff looking for recylclables and such. The stuff shouldnt end up in the landfill after all. I think.
Not sure if the Goodwill mention was serious or not, but a few years ago I tried to give some equipment to Goodwill only to find out they had some (pretty steep) HW standards at the time (i want to say Pentium 3 class ~2004). BTW, this was for desktop machines only (no monitors). More recently, I found that they've stopped selling (and I assume receiving) HW donations all together (at least this is true of the GCF storefronts (a Goodwill subsidiary)).
--Jed.
Here is one place I've taken stuff in the past. Reasonably convenient if you live in the Bay Area, and I think they have some info on their site about recycling from other locations.
http://www.accrc.org/
During a garbage strike I boxed and gift wrapped the kitchen garbage, left it in the back of the pickup. Gone when I got back.
"reBOOT Canada accepts donations of computer equipment from companies and individuals throughout Canada."
http://www.rebootcanada.ca/
freecycle is an grassroots idea that has spread across the world where people post stuff they want to get rid of and other people ask for it and go pick it up.
http://www.freecycle.org/ is a web page finder to find a local freecycle group. The groups are actually yahoo groups. They are the best way to get rid of useful to someone junk without actually throwing it out. It is where you can get rid of stuff that is still usable and / or get stuff that other people are getting rid of.
Maybe try these guys?
http://worldcomputerexchange.org
(from the site)
Working Pentium 3 and above desktop & laptop computers (see below if you do not know how to tell what level computer yours is) It is okay if the computer is a Celeron of comparable MHz.
Macs: Sorry we only accept working G3 and G4 laptops only and only at 936 Nantasket Ave, Hull, Mass. 02045 USA.
Monitors: working color monitors that are less than 9 years old and have a built in autoswitch for the voltage (these will say something like "Power: 110/220 volts" on the back of the monitor). All monitors built after 1995 have this except for one brand of NEC monitors.
For above: working keyboards, mice, cables, and power cords
Printers: working dot matrix, laser, and inkjet printers with cartridges and cables
Network gear: working network switches, routers, and hubs, EtherNet cards and cable
Peripherals: working scanners, digital cameras, CD ROMs, external modems, LCD projectors, zip and jazz drives, and UPSes (Uninterrupted Power Supply)
Software: educational, non-violent, appropriate
Parts: working internal modems, working extra hard drives, working CD ROM drives
There are tons of people (like me) who regularly troll flea markets, Craigslist and Freecycle (yahoo groups) for old tech. Put up a post on Craigslist or Freecycle advertising free tech junk or box of electronics; list a few of the more usable items with a little description (i.e. Old router broken reset switch, Nokia phone charger for 8620, Stargate - not sure what's wrong, lost the manual )and you'll have nerds beating down your door to take it off your hands.
Now if you are one of those nerds and you are down to four non functional IBM power bricks with no cords a 15 inch CRT or a dull Flo-bee, you probably ought to look into your city's Electronics recycling program. Much like the programs that offered for hazardous chemical pick-up (paint, motor oil, batteries) most major cities will have a number you can call to schedule an appointment for pick up or drop off (at the city dump) of E-waste.
CRAIGSLIST!!! There are ppl in your area waiting for this junk... let them have it! (The "someone else's problem" solution)
-=[You cannot consistently judge this statement to be true.]=-
Go to www.freecycle.org and post what you have. Someone in the local area may want it. While you are there, you can pick up all sorts of other peoples junk for yourself to fill the empty space you created getting rid of the old computer equipment.
freecycle rocks.
Gazelle (http://www.gazelle.com) is a website that is trying to answer this. We want to provide a practical, rewarding way for people to finally rid themselves of all those old cell phones, digital cameras, and gaming systems that they no longer use, but can't seem to find a way to let go of. Too often when people think of recycling, they rush straight to smashing things into bits for parts. We believe that reuse should always come first. If your GPS unit still works, why not keep it in circulation AND get paid for it? If reusing isn't in the cards, then we'll ensure that it is recycled responsibly. We think of it as ReCommerce. Right now we'll make an offer for any item in the 9 categories we support: * Cell Phones * MP3 Players * Digital Cameras * Laptops * GPS Devices * Camcorders * Gaming Consoles * Satellite Radios * Portable Hard Drives
If you go on the website: http://www.techsoup.org/ you can find a listing of refurbishers in your community, the plus of this is they will completely wipe your system of any data. Many of these groups are non-profit and will donate your systems to hospitals and schools. Also you will get a receipt that can give you a tax break.
hope this helps!
Start up a blog, call it TakeMyTech, and post each item you have for up grabs. Say you'll take the first 100 comments in each post/item, randomly choose one poster (one entry per person!), and ship them whatever random crap they "won". Pay for shipping, and a small profit, with advertising!
For me, I always love to strip it down, sometimes you can find some really neat stuff that are great for DIY projects. I just take it out to the shed, rip it apart, take a blowtorch to the back of the PCBs and knock all the component parts off. It's not the best if you're looking for specific items, but for general Caps/Resistors/Battery Holders/IC Sockets/Pin Headers/etc. It's great! Sometimes if you're lucky you'll run across something really neat (Nixie Tubes, Big LCD Screens, Laser Diodes, etc, old uCs, EEPROMs). It's a lot of work, but when you compare the cost of a D-Sub Parallel connector ($3.29 at Radioshack) with FREE off an old computer, it can really save you on the odds and ends to make your projects nice.
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." - Thomas A. Edison
If you are in Texas you can have makers *take it back*.
http://www.publicresearchworks.org/E-Waste_Recycle.cfm
Please don't throw it away.
Go to Cornell University in Ithaca NY.
Go to Rhodes Hall.
Outside of the big lecture room, in the hallway, actually behind where the lecturer would stand are two counter tops.
Leave your computer hardware, software or books there.
If you see anything you like, take it with you. This is the sacrificial altar to the gods of geekdom. All are welcome to take or remove and tech/geek item you want. Much of it is reused by students making insane projects.
- I live the greatest adventure anyone could possibly desire. - Tosk the Hunted
There is a non-profit organization here at http://www.rebootcanada.ca/ which refurbishes old H/W for churches and the less fortunate. Not sure if they cover shipping, but they seem like a good place to ditch your junk. Otherwise you can send it to me, I LOVE legacy hardware. =)
If you list in the Boston area or nearby, computer recycling is easy. If it is a old CRT monitor, call Sanitation at (617) 635-7574 and they will pick it up at the address you tell them to come by. They pick it up the same day as trash day. If you do not live in Boston, make arrangements with someone locally to drop it off at their address.
As far as computers go, as long as they have no hazardous material inside, sanitation will pick it up for free with thhe regular trash. What I do I pull the internal components from the inside, Ebay them in a large bulk auction and toss the case. Perhaps people are not aware, that if you toss out metal with the garbage, it will get recycled. Part of the dumping process is that they use large eletro-magnets to pull/extract the metals and they are recycled them.
For more information what can or can not be recycled, go to http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/recycling/FAQ.asp
NO! NO! Please don't mod me, I'm too young to die a troll. *click* Oh the pain, the pain...
They may not give you any money for it, but they'll take it off your hands, working or not.
"Once we've identified and embraced our sickness, we'll have strength...and that's when we get dangerous." - John Waters
Depending where you are, there are plenty of computer recycling/reselling businesses out there. For example, in the Puget Sound, there's stores such as Re-PC, where you can drop off pretty much anything. They're amazing places, you can even find old 1st generation luggable PCs, memory modules the size of paperback books, and massive 5mb HDs from ages long past.
Anyhoo, give that a shot. And avoid Goodwill like the plague, whenever they get something they can't figure out how to use, off to the dumpster and landfills it goes.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Give it away on Freecycle or Craigslist, that's the simplest option.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Ship it off to Africa, obviously!
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
there are several locations that will give you a tax break for your donations (Komputers4RKids.com for example).
Find someone who can actually use the stuff. Try http://www.gigoit.org/
Office depot has a great program where you buy a box for a few bucks, throw whatever tech junk you have into it, and take it back to them. Then they'll take care of recycling everything in it.
http://freegeek.org/ These people are awesome. They teach people about computers and then let them have one of the computers they make. Spreads knowledge and community service. I wish we had one down in the south :)
http://yourlocation.craigslist.org/zip/
:)
:)
People list old free stuff all the time. I gave away an old Dell 19" CRT monitor (obviously in working condition) within a few hours of it being up. The only unfortunate thing was the lady who picked it up was a bit dodge and STILL emails me now and again (despite having a husband and 3 kids) despite getting the hint that I block every new email address she creates. BUT that is neither here nor there.
Typically if I have enough spare parts to build a cheap PC (even if I have to scavenge a bit for other parts to get it working) I'll try to do so, then put Linux on it and give it away to someone who needs a PC. Local kids shelters (YMCA, etc) typically have a need for these kinds of things. Elderly people take to them just fine if everything is set up for them as well.
Do good by others (always being honest with what you have - and trying to go that extra mile to make sure they're taken care of) and I think most of them will do good for other people as well
You should keep all your old hardware. You never know when another time traveler is going to come back and demand to find old mainframes to bring their post-apocalyptic society back into shape.
Seriously. Dump it on the curb, put a post on craigslist listing what's there and where it is - if you're in a metro area it'll be gone in hours, because *someone* will turn out to really really need that HDI-25 DBwhatever scsi adaptor cable for some arcane project they're working on, or the local nonprofit will grab all the cat5 to replace the cable that got trashed when they shifted that filing cabinet and snagged the existing cable or whatever.
And if any of it's still there in two days, go and clean up the mess, because whatever's left really is trash..
I had my 7-year-old daughter playing Zork 1 a couple of weeks ago. At first, she was put off by the text interface. However, once she realized that there's a story embedded in the game, and it's responsive to her commands, she's completely into it.
She's also been playing WarZone 2100. So far, she's done the tutorial and the first sortie mission. She understands that the two games are different, and that one isn't necessarily better than the other. For example, Zork will wait as long as she likes to make her decisions.
Similarly, we've been running the VICE emulator on her Ubuntu machine. She has a blast running the C64 emulator, in spite of it's minimal capabilities. Writing her first few BASIC programs were great experiences - especially the ones that poked the SID chip. Instant gratification is a great learning tool.
Unfortunately, my local junkman has wised up. I saw him disassembling some castoff PC and complaining that it was a AMD K6.
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
I was given a 8086 with 640K of RAM!!!! at the age of about twelve. That was around 1998. To be fair it did have all the RAM I ever needed for it, and the 20 megabyte hard drive was more than enough. All the old games it came with were awesome, "Castle" was a favorite. The biggest benefit was learning to use a command line only environment, be it DOS. I learned to use GW-BASIC and taught myself off some source code I found on the hard drive. I'm currently in school for computer science and I must say that all of my code, in every language, is usually more compact and runs faster than my classmates. I think it comes from writing games for that 4.75Mhz beast.
"Where have all the good people gone?" - Jack Johnson
The first time I solved this problem by moving into a fourplex and believing the landlord when she said a certain storage closet in the back was ours even though it had the wrong number on it. Then I came home one day and it had been emptied by the landlord and police when our neighbors were taken into custody for drug dealing. (Being able to afford to move out of there was one of my main motivations for finishing my college education).
The second time, I thought of creative ways to reuse parts from broken or obsolete equipment, then bought a few extra parts needed to make it work, but never actually built them, thus increasing the size of my junk pile. Uh wait, that doesn't actually help, but it is kind of surreal when you actually get around to a project and realize you're better stocked than your local Radio Shack.
Seriously, my recommendation is to get a few small plastic bins with lids, and organize the stuff you will probably want to use again. I have one for cables, one for wall-warts, one for things like routers and modems, and one with lots of dividers for electronic components. If there is one part I want from something that breaks, I strip out that one part and throw the rest out. That satisfies the pack rat in me without producing huge piles of junk.
Those of you who are concerned about contaminating the environment with lead, remember that the lead was in the environment to begin with. We have environmentalists screaming at miners not to take lead out of the ground, then they turn right around and scream at us when we try to put it back in somewhere else.
This space intentionally left blank.
Often, there is some use for otherwise obsolete equipment. My brother who worked in the IT department of a large company was musing about the print buffer of one printer was continually overflowing. They needed a new printer but there was a new purchasing freeze so a cheap solution had to be found. I then had an idea, I had an old but perfectly good IBM-XT with a 50 Meg hard drive that was not used for 10 years. I told my brother that he could use it for a print server. That is exactly what was done. It was still in use as a print server 4 years later. By the way, this was just after the tech bubble burst.
This is a highly unusual situation but I am sure that old equipment that is still good but unused still has worth to someone.
Some years ago I donated my fully loaded but rather old Pentium Pro system to a local school in Oregon, which was going through some serious budget problems at the state level (but then again, when is that ever not true?) I formatted it and gave it to them with a clean OS install, ready for new software.
G4 Television has their gcycle service. You put in your zip code and it will give you a list of businesses in the area that can take your stuff off your hands. Be warned, the website is entirely in flash.
There is always Google. If you do a map search for "recycle <your town>" you'll come up with a pretty good list. Unfortunately, what companies will accept is pretty hit or miss. You'll probably have to call around a bit to find out what they'll take and whether or not there will be fees involved.
"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."
-- Ernest Hemingway
www.freegeek.org
www.worldcomputerexchange.org
If either has a chapter near you, give your stuff to them. Both are great at putting old computer equipment to good use.
Here in the Bay area, we have the Computer Recycling Center (crc.org) available, but if there isn't a similar place near you, try GreenDisk (www.greendisk.com). They'll send you a postage-prepaid box to fill with your stuff and send back to them.
Professors at small colleges and trade schools are extremely hard-up for computers to teach with. The school is not going to pony up for anything that gives the students hands-on access to apply their learning (and many of the students can't afford to buy machines to tinker with themselves).
In previous cleanings, I have listed on CraigsList but often find the same items for sale -- this is extremely disheartening as I generally want these items to go to good use for someone who otherwise would not be able to afford or have access to this. People who sell stuff they get for free make me feel uncomfortable.
One time, I happened upon a professor who teaches introductory computer maintenance and repair at one of the local adult night schools. I have given him the last two batches of gear I have parted with and he has been more than happy to take the hundreds of pounds of CRT and everything from K6 and P2 processors to stripped cases with just a motherboard and random wires.
In the end, this gives him something practical to teach with (and hopefully donate to the school or underprivileged family when repaired)
Plus, you feel good about having made sure your stuff goes to making the world a better place even after it leaves your hands!
The United Cerebral Palsy runs a program in Illinois called the Adaptive Technology Exchange Network (ATEN) which takes most any old tech, refurbishes and donates to schools while training kids and adults on useful, real-world technology skills.
I've given them close to a 100 various old computers, dozens of CRTs, and misc audio/video gear (you'd think a perfectly working Sony uMatic 3/4" deck would have some value, but no).
see subject -- in reference to your signature
i donate it to a tax deductible charity that refurbishes it for under privileged kids and use the tax deduction.
In San Francisco, I've used both:
http://www.crc.org/ [Computer Recycling Center]
http://zarcnet.com/ [Zarc]
They set up neighborhood drop offs fairly often in different neighborhoods. You load up all of your computer junk in boxes, drive by, stop your car, they swoop in and take all of your junk and you drive off. Takes about 2 minutes.
The CRC also has a couple of permanent locations around the bay area.
You should be able to use Google to find similar organizations in your area.
Electronics do not keep working forever just because it does not have any moving parts. Capacitors leak and degrade, batteries start to grow hair, etc. The old, trusty 486 simply isn't as stable and nice to work with anymore as it was 15 years ago. The electronics have EARNED their right to go to the electronics heaven!
Well, maybe the Seattle Goodwill needs to catch up with Austin Goodwill. The Austin Goodwill Computer store is a great resource. I do try not to dump non-working stuff there, because it probably doesn't make them money recycling that. I shop there a lot, and the prices vary from great deals (usually when they don't recognize something for what it is) to slightly above brand new for some items. Mainly, they are good for stuff no longer sold new, that you can examine before buying and not have to wait for shipping, unlike ebay.
For example, they regularly have the linux-running versions of the WRT54G for $25.
I am not sure of the business situation of Austin Goodwill, but the place may be partially subsidized by Dell Computers to handle some of their recycling obligations.
However, let's presume that the original poster doesn't have that option. Here's what I would do: pot on some local forums, and find several local people in a similar situation, and have a "computer garage sale" at someone's house on a Saturday. If there is no Goodwill Computers type place in your market, it is possible that this could become regular and grow and have to move to a parking lot somewhere and become a swap meet.
Strip your cables and wires of all insulating material, and take that stuff to a metal yard. You'll rake in good cash for all that copper.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
You have junk. Someone else has stuff. You want less junk but absolutely will procure more stuff. Title it: Free or Trade Computer Hardware. List in the ad line items w/as much detail/specs as possible & include photos (use links to manufactures images if possible). Then make separate list of things you might be able to use. Make reposting ad part of regular routine, like paying bills, until junk has all been replaced by stuff.
Just note on local craigslist or usenet that you will have free computer stuff available on such and such a day, give a general overview, and put it out. Or say, first come, first serve, call me to set up a time, must take it all". Both have worked for me.
This wil usually recycle as close to its intended purpose as possible.
Craigslist.org Craigslist.org Craigslist.org Craigslist.org Craigslist.org Craigslist.org Craigslist.org
I have personally had numerous excellent experiences with CL. Just make sure to put it in the free section with a good title (not "free stuff") and a pic or two and it will be gone in no time.
It's an incredible way to have your stuff re-used.
One thing to which I had paid attention was the quality of computer cases. Once these were made of the same heavy gauge steel as the frame rails of automobiles and were spot welded. With few exceptions, today's cases are built no better than cookie tins with flimsy rivets. Remove the old electronics from these and retrofit with current technology with the help of a cordless drill set, a Dremel(R) tool and dozens of ceramic cutting wheels. The only problem is that the vast majority of older cases do not allow as many drives as their newer counterparts.
The HP Netserver LX Pro case is an exception. With sixteen half-height 5.25 in. drive bays, one won't run out of space too quickly, especially when stuffing it with DVD or BluRay(R) writers and terabyte SATA hard drives. Cooling may not be an issue, but the noise of six large muffin fans may suggest fluid cooling. Casters make moving the unit convenient. The old electronics can be recycled. A peripheral (pun not necessarily intended) benefit is that the unit is so heavy it takes four people to steal it.
The above posting was sponsored by the Curbside Shopping Network.
Submission as evidence constitutes plaintiff and/or prosecutorial misconduct.
I'm willing to bet not all Goodwill's are the same. From what I was told, the ComputerWorks here in Austin was an experiment and they in fact get truck loads daily from other Goodwills, in fact, an 18 wheeler dropped off pallets of junk that was sorted, tested and then the scrap metal dealers came through to haul away. Now I'm willing to bet not all of it is recycled properly but most gets recycled. They get so many broken Pentium Pro cpu's that they have a jewelry dealer come through weekly and buys everything they have apparently to break them down, take the gold and reuse in jewelry. Perhaps you should encourage your local Goodwill to recycle rather than just dump. If you're so concerned about their practices, then volunteer your services along with some of your best buddies.
Insteading of tossing your e-waste, call 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, http://www.1800gotjunk.com/ a call, they will haul it away and take it and get it recycled for you.
Bart: Dad, you really want to get rid of this trampoline?
Homer: Uh huh.
Bart: Observe: a bike lock.
[Bart locks the trampoline to a post]
Bart: Now just turn around, and count to three: one, two, three --
[they turn around to see Snake with a pair of wire cutters]
Bart: Uh, better make it five.
[snip, snip]
Snake: All right! I got me a bed.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Those of you who are concerned about contaminating the environment with lead, remember that the lead was in the environment to begin with. We have environmentalists screaming at miners not to take lead out of the ground, then they turn right around and scream at us when we try to put it back in somewhere else.
Cute. The problem people have is when toxic levels of lead accumulate in people's bodies directly due to irresponsible industrial practices and poorly managed municipal waste programs. But you knew that. Heck, in my town, we have an insane 'green' program whereby farmers are subsidized if they 'fertilize' their crops with industrial and municipal sludge from water treatment facilities. It hasn't been treated. It's raw. The only thing removed is the water. And guess what? We now have high levels of heavy metals and other random chemicals in our produce, fish and livestock. How's that for brilliant?
When people smarten up, then I might accept over-simplified "It came from the ground" comments. Until then, I'll be keeping a close eye on the brain-damaged clowns who run industry and government. --I don't want to eat lead just because the people in charge of my food and water supply apparently already have.
-FL
Find your local 2600 chapter and see if they have a mailing list / forum. Post what you want to get rid of; deliver at the next meeting. Depending on the size and level of activity of your local group, you might find takers immediately. Even without mailing list response, you'll probably find takers for all of it at the meeting.
I blend my old tech gear and then sprinkle it on the lawn.
Apart from Free Geek, there's also Hackers For Charity.
They might be really interested not only in your old hardware, but also old software such as encyclopedias (Encarta, etc) and swags. BTW, if you're interested in donating some skills as well, there are nice projects available too (programming, web-design, drawing, etc.)
All of it might end up helping some kids in Africa (not the Spam-sending kind), and you can follow up with it through their website.
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
In our lug (Linux Users Group) (Chugalug) people post things like this for free all the time, and someone is almost always willing to come over and pick it up.
Ah, those were good times; good times, indeed!
"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." - Richard M. Nixon
This is not always the case, I am looking at a 400mhz celeron system that uses 59 watts, versus 114 for an AMD 1400. Now yes a well built system can get down around 59 watts but that's pretty low.
Just group up your junk and take photo of it, then tell people they can have anything they want from it (of course they pay the shipping), sometimes people find just the part they need in your junk.
Yesterday, I rummaged through Doc Brown's junk and pulled out something labeled "flux capacitor". What's that???
One option is to recycle it. Office Depot does technology recycling for free.
http://www.officedepot.com/promo.do?file=/promo/pages/0928_recycling.jsp
There are a number of projects making realy interesting use of outdated hardware, this project in particular focuses on taking outdated palms and cell phones, getting linux mobile distro's and media applications working well with them:
http://dev.eyebeam.org/projects/reware/blog
tasty electronic music vittles
I don't know about your locale, but around here, at the local landfill, before you actually get to the place where you dump junk, there is a large shed where you are free to drop anything that still works. You are likewise free to take anything there that you like. I remember going up there one day and dropping off about a half dozen monitors, a few old computers and some printers, including a full SGI Indy set-up with Presenter. I labelled each as to what it was and just left it... while I was there, I saw this cool rather large fisher price easel, which was in fantastic condition, but too big to fit in my car, so I dropped my stuff, went home to get the minivan and drove back, about 15 minute round trip, and by the time I got there, all the computer stuff I had dropped off was gone. I took the easel home, hosed it off, and put it outside for the kids to play with. Everybody wins. Someone got some aging, but still usable computer gear, and my kids got a toy that I did not have to buy.
I reject your reality
All of these require a computer AND if you do not have one. Or you like to work in a group to learn instead all around one screen... a few extra computers - maybe with Ubuntu or another Linux would be a great help.
In Computers alone:
6 Do THREE of the following:
a. Use a database manager to create a troop roster that includes the name, rank, patrol, and telephone number of each Scout. Show your counselor that you can sort the register by each of the following categories: rank, patrol, and alphabetically by name.
b. Use a spreadsheet program to develop a food budget for a patrol weekend campout.
c. Use a word processor to write a letter to the parents of your troop's Scouts inviting them to a court of honor. Use the program's mail merge feature to make a personalized copy of the letter for each family.
d. Use a computer graphics program to design and draw a campsite plan for your troop, OR design a flyer for an upcoming troop event.
e. Using a software package of your choice, develop a short presentation about a topic that has been approved by your counselor. For your presentation create at least 10 slides.
f. Using an Internet search engine, find ideas about how to conduct a troop court of honor or campfire program. Print out a copy of the ideas from at least three different Web sites. Share what you found with your counselor, and explain how you used the search engine to find this information.
g. Using a digital camera, take a picture of a troop activity. Transfer the picture file to a computer and use photographic software to make it small enough to send easily as an e-mail attachment. Then, using a computer connected to the Internet (with your parent's permission), send an e-mail to someone you know. In your message, include the photograph as an attachment. Verify that the person received your e-mail and was able to view the attachment.
h. Describe two computer chip-based devices, and explain how they are "smarter" because of the chip and its program.
7 Do ONE of the following:
a.
b. Using a software package of your choice for computer aided design (CAD), create an engineering-style drawing of a simple object. Include the top, bottom, and at least one side view and the dimensions.
c. Use a general purpose programming language to write a simple program application of your choice, subject to approval by your counselor.
d. Design a Web page for your troop, patrol, school, or place of worship. You need not post the page to a Web site. However, if you decide to do so, you will first need to get your parent's permission and your counselor's approval, as well as permission from the host site.
Also helpful in Electronic, Electrical, Drafting, Communications, Citizenship of Community and of World, Cinematography, Aviation, Astronomy, Art - just to name a few. Now add in others where keeping journals and list, creating diagrams and such would be of help.
I am a Eagle Scout, we need to look at helping and giving of oneself including looking outside of limited views.
I put an ad on craigslist and two racks full of servers to a charity that helps paralyzed people walk again.
I kept a lot of junk for years, until I found Green Citizen http://www.greencitizen.com/ and cleaned out my garage. I was glad I kept it until I could get rid of it properly.
Call the mechanical or electrical engineering departments at the local university (if there is one). ALWAYS looking for cables and misc electronics and junk for student design projects and even graduate student research.
...or at least a robot that is powered by human blood and fear
-- Sex is the antonym of pringles. Once you pop it's time to stop.
Google it for your area. It is a group (localized) that post "free" items that other people may want. They contact you and make arrangement to pickup.
It's to stop the throw out mentality/marketing that we have now. Reduce the garbage we throw out but to reuse what we have by give it to some one who might need it.
"The only thing i want to save, in case it comes in handy later, is space."
I simply created a group for all the stuff I no longer wanted on Scoodi. (http://www.scoodi.com/item_groups/35). I just post things up there as I get time, and now most of my old computer bits have gone to local geeks and kids that can put it to good use. Seems to work pretty well, and saves me the hassle of having to deal with this stuff or finding some way to dispose of or recycle it.
but the earth is cluttered
Sorry, but wasn't there an internet video about putting your junk in a box that was totally about something else?
you should read everything on the internet as if it had "but I'm probably talking out of my ass" appended to it.
Where I live, there is an online freebie thing called "FreeCycle". You offer it to someone in your area for free. It is in Yahoo groups here. Someone wants it.
As a pack rat, I kept all my old computers, and had a few dozen, not to mention hundreds of old cards, monitors, scanners, drives, etc, most working. The way I got rid of my stuff was to let Hurricane Katrina blow it right out of my attic. I thought I might someday donate it to a Linux museum, but the lesson is let someone make use of what may still work now, before some disaster strikes and you find yourself dealing with real junk.
The looks you get from people when you and your buddy hurl a 20" sony CRT into the pit then throw PC boxes and PSUs at it until it finally breaks is priceless.
You are a land polluter.
The school I work at is always looking for odd things which the students can use for art projects. A few senior students are using some smashed LCD monitors and a few cracked keyboards I donated. Even if it doesn't work, an art teacher can use it as a piece of sculpture material, or a computing studies teacher can use it as a hands on demonstration. The same applies if it's too old to be of any reasonable use. Also, if you smile sweetly, the students might create some awesome artwork with it. Remind them who gave them the stuff to do it, and perhaps you can brute force yourself some neat tech sculpture.
If you're anywhere near the San Francisco Bay Area, I HIGHLY recommend the Alameda County Computer Resource Center (www.ACCRC.org) in Berkeley. Their slogan: "Obsolescence is Just a Lack of Imagination" Working computers get wiped of every trace of Windows, installed with Ubuntu, then donated to schools, educators, third world countries, artists, or anyone else with a good story and a good soul. They're also extremely supportive of artists (like me) and other non-profit tech projects (also like me). Plus they do things like converting their hearse to run on natural gas.
You can recover quite a lot of metal from a PC, I've recently taken to melting the disk drives you need to strip off all the elctronics first or you'll have a lot of smoke.
Depending on what it is (ie. how powerfull etc.) You could give it to your local schools. In the high school I went to we had a local course developed by the computer science teacher on how to repair computers and how to build them. He was always happy to take discards from people of the community and it didn't really matter how powerfull they were as the kids more often than not destroyed them. If the systems/parts are of suffienct power you could give them to an old folks home or a charity.
letting an idiot know they are an idiot is not a game... it's a responsibility. - by Kristopeit, M. D. (1892582)