BNE From Australia, joined Mar 2000, 3156 posts, RR: 13 Posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1533 times:
With the pace of technology it seems that we replace computers, VCRs and other such a equipment on a semi regular basis.
At our work it seems like every month we are throwing away old 15" CRT monitors; who use those things anyway when you can use new LCD screens. We even have stuff at our office like old typewriters and filing cabinets that might be of little use but it seems like a waste to throw them away.
Where do they go.
Does all the stuff that we throw away end up in a land fill somewhere that one day it will seep out of the ground and haunt us in the future.
I have heard, maybe someone could educate me, that in some places in the world like India & Bangladesh can take apart our unwanted electrical stuff and reuse the metals inside the units.
It seems the cost of raw materials isn't really expensive enough to warrant proper recycling of some items, and with the cost of labour in an industrial world it isn't cost effective to try and dispose or recycle.
In a modern society do we waste many resources on unwanted goods that were purchased or manufactured that were never really put to proper use.
Maybe in Australia we have an abundance of raw materials and space to hide our garbage.
What about in Europe and North America is recycling an important part of your lives.
Kaddyuk From Wallis and Futuna, joined Nov 2001, 4125 posts, RR: 28 Reply 1, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1524 times:
Quoting BNE (Thread starter): Maybe in Australia we have an abundance of raw materials and space to hide our garbage.
You live on a continent with similar land surface area to the moon... of course you have space to hide garbage, thats why the brits used to send their criminals there... Plenty of space... :P
Whoever said "laughter is the best medicine" never had Gonorrhea
Bushpilot From South Africa, joined Jul 2007, 0 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1494 times:
Quoting BNE (Thread starter): At our work it seems like every month we are throwing away old 15" CRT monitors;
I know plenty of folks who are going to not like my ideas on the subject but here is what me and a few buddies did with an old monitor, fax machine, microwave, and a super nintendo, we shot em! They were all broken and there is no recycling where I live due to the fact it is isolated and it costs about 4x the amount to ship equipment out than you get from recycling it. So before hunting season we went to sight in our rifles, and when that was done, we preceded to take turns shooting at them from 350-400 yards. They were pretty well thrashed when it was done, but by no means was it easy to hit a SNES @350.
BradWray From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 650 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1479 times:
In England, at our local tips (public dumping area) we have around 20 diffrent dumping areas which is all recycled....From Grass, Metal and Wood to Glass Dishwashers and Microwave ovens we have a way of recycling it.
I have 6 diffrent bins at my household, one for Grass, one for glass, one for flamible items, one for regular garbage, one for electrical equipment and one for paper and that it just at my house! These were all supplied, free by the local council.
In England the councils do everything they can to get us to recycle!
Kaddyuk From Wallis and Futuna, joined Nov 2001, 4125 posts, RR: 28 Reply 6, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1476 times:
Quoting BradWray (Reply 5): In England the councils do everything they can to get us to recycle!
Not Every Council... I Live in West Sussex and Crawley Borough Council has only recently started encouraging recycling. They haven't done a good job either... they just lamped a green bin on the door step expecting people to "use it" correctly. No leaflets were handed out, no information was passed on what to put in the bins and they were a complete flop. Even now, all i know is that i can not put builders rubble in it or start a fire in it (its made of plastic).
Whoever said "laughter is the best medicine" never had Gonorrhea
Muddydwagon From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 657 posts, RR: 4 Reply 7, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1476 times:
Hey Guys, Here in Sweden we recycle electronics as this is my job. We take in any electrical equipment and sort it out buy material type. Plastic, wood, metal scrap, Electronics, computer boards, and so on. The only things we completely disassemble are TVs, computer monitors, computers, and axillary power units to remove the batteries. Stuff like Radios, VCRs, DVD players, and telephones go into electronic scrap to be crushed.
The funny thing about the stuff we get is 95% of the stuff works and alot of it comes still in the box. Just today got a P4 Dell laptop with the works and a Acer with a P4 80 gig hd etc. Powered them up and work just fine.
Runway23 From US Minor Outlying Islands, joined Jan 2005, 2038 posts, RR: 39 Reply 9, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 5 days ago) and read 1455 times:
The CRT screens are something very easy to dispose of. Go to a top floor of the building open window, drop and watch them explode.
I did that quite a number of times at my old school when they had some stuff to dispose of. Made for quite a nice show. We did however take precautions so that nobody was actually under the path of the projectiles.
Eilennaei From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 10, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1439 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 2): It's a major problem - that's why we've just got a new recycling regulation for electronic equipment
"We" means the whole EU. Any recycling costs are now embedded in the price of new equipment. Your local community information service will have been informed.
Scott2187 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 304 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1434 times:
when something is outdate for me, it get's blown up. makes for fun times.
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
NeilYYZ From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 15, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1429 times:
Quoting Scott2187 (Reply 13): when something is outdate for me, it get's blown up. makes for fun times.
That's what I do with a lot of stuff, or set it on fire... Maybe I'm a pyro, but what's better than a marshmellow roast over a pile of old VCR's?
In all honesty though, if it still works I will try to give it away or take it to the pawn shop down the street to try and recoup part of the cost of it. I've also been known to sell it on eBay for dirt cheap prices. Or if worse comes to worse, and the marshmellow roast is out, throw it at the curb the day before garbage day and someone is bound to pick it up and try to make it work at their place.
Scott2187 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 304 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1427 times:
Quoting NeilYYZ (Reply 15): but what's better than a marshmellow roast over a pile of old VCR's?
you know that it's not really safe to eat marshmellow's cooked over burning plastic, right?
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
Fbgdavidson From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 3687 posts, RR: 31 Reply 19, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1420 times:
Where I used to work we gave old electronic equipment such as computers, printers and things to local charities and non-profit organisations.
If it was actually broken we'd have more fun with it
"My first job was selling doors, door to door, that's a tough job innit" - Bill Bailey
..and the rest sent to India on a slow big ship that will be beached somewhere near the Pakistani border and broken asunder.
Well actually the new EU directives require the recycling centres be fenced. In Finland the Russians were previously known to search for used equipment in such places and take it home for free. That sort of recycling had to stopped by the Union as it was almost too close to the idea of a functional recycling...
DeltaMD88 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 51 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (7 years 1 month 9 hours ago) and read 1352 times:
Quoting YWG (Reply 22): I was going to say, why not drive it out to a secluded field, throw fish on it and beat the hell out of it with a bat! It DOES feel good.
It does feel good, I did the 'Office Space' thing to my printer and computer not too long ago....after I got a new one of course. It felt sooooo damn good!
LTBEWR From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 12333 posts, RR: 12 Reply 24, posted (7 years 1 month 9 hours ago) and read 1344 times:
Last year, I got rid of my old computer and monitor to a recycling day for them and hazardous materials (like leftover oil based paint paint, bug killers, propane containers) done by my parents home county government. Probably the used computer equipment went to some 3rd world country and there are problem with how they recycle.
If you do dispose of any old computers with hard drives, and you don't want it used, then you must remove and destroy the hard drive to prevent access to your private info that may still be on it, even after using eraser programs. Something like a 10 pound sledgehammer works good....
25 SATX: At my work they throw away tons of computer hardware. It goes in the trash to be hauled to the nearest landfill where it gets crushed before slowly re
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