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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?"
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.
I think one of his points was that selling it, either in real life or online, would be too much of a hassle.
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.
That's how I've gotten rid of most of my accumulated junk.
Rgds
Damon
http://m.earth.org.uk/
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.
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.
www.1800gotjunk.com
I'm not affiliated with them, never used them, but according to wikipedia, they are a good outfit, and donate/recycle stuff, including electronics.
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
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.........
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.
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/
I think that it is a great idea when it comes to Linux adoption. For example, you take the old Pentium II you have and install DSL on it, (because the old Windows that was on it is most likely unusable anyways) and the kid learns Linux. Knowing Linux, he saves money on technology throughout his life and gets a good job as a sysadmin.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
I'm not affiliated with them either, but I HAVE used them.
They're pretty good if you have a lot of stuff. In our case we did, so they sent a truck and two guys over. You make an appointment for a certain day at a certain time, for a certain duration. They were pretty punctual.
Basically the guy (or guys) follow you around, you point at something, they put it in the truck. As long as it's something that can be reasonably picked up and moved they'll take it. They you pay based on how full the truck is, and they drive off. Not a bad deal if you have volume to deal with.
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.
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.
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.
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
You can also check out Freecycle in many major cities.
There are also Freecycle groups in some not-so-major cities, too. I live in a town of about 45,000, and we have one. You're a little less likely to find a taker for obscure stuff than in a bigger city, but it's worth a shot.
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.
Oh please, I was a sysadmin for a short stint and I only had to kill someone and lime the body once. It's not like I had to chop up his family or something for calling me asking me to 'find the program in the file they lost'.
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
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.
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
Around here, they also shit their signs all over the place. They're worse than political signs, because at least those get taken down at the end of the political season. The 1-800-G**-J*** signs stick around, and they seem to replace them if someone takes them down.