eWaste Solutions

[EXCellR8]

I face an annoyingly common dilemma of figuring out what to do with all of the old, outdated, and sometimes broken PC hardware that I have accumulated over the years.

I don't want all of it in a landfill somewhere and yes, I know I can't save the world, but I'd much rather see it recycled properly. Problem is, I've been trying for weeks to contact some help but I've come up with almost nothing. Not a single call back from any company who claims they accept electronics or computer parts.

A metal place in the neighboring town used to have annual eWaste drop offs that were totally free and super convenient, but now they charge quite a bit for each item. I have also tried to donate the working stuff but nobody wants to take that either, and none of it is worth squat obviously.

I don't mind having things picked up or even if I have to bring it a state away but I'm not going to pay to throw things away unless it's nickels and dimes.

Any suggestions? Is there something in plain sight that I am just not seeing? I know some staples locations accept up to like 6 or 8 items per day but I have a whole bin full of stuff I need to get rid of. I can bring any aluminum towers to the scrapyard but the PCB and hard drives and stuff are a different story.

Input of any kind is appreciated, thanks!

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Ebay it. You can ebay damn near anything, including broken stuff. Just make sure they cover shipping so you aren't paying to get rid of it.

 

[EXCellR8]

I've been ebaying on the side as much as possible, but it's slow work and many trips to the post office and UPS store...

I don't even understand how this is a problem... companies and vendors make trillions on new parts (i am no help, as a avid consumer) and there is no way to legally get rid of the old stuff without paying AGAIN to have it "recycled." Amazing economics... mankind at its finest.

I might just leave it all on the stairs to the state house and they can fine me all they want. Trying to be responsible should not be frowned upon. 'murica!

 

[corkyg]

See if there is a flea market in your area. We have them here that take just about anything that can be used.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I try to do the same, everything else I dump at Best Buy. For now, they'll take anything free, except monitors.

I hate dumping it, and have no idea what Best Buy is doing with it. But there's only so much I can stockpile, for so long, before it's time to admit it needs to go.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Half the stuff that gets 'recycled' ends up in an e-waste dump in crackistan anyhow. Really, really hard to be an actual treehugger when it comes to electronics.

Though dumping it on a city hall doorstep isn't a terrible idea. At least it gets the point across that it's something to be addressed.

 

[EXCellR8]

Flea markets here got shut down for selling counterfeit goods; lot of drug trafficking too. Basically a black market in the mid-90's but state didn't care until early 00's. Of course there's a "heroin crisis" here in NH now and I can still buy a "pre-ban" AK47 with just a valid ID so... great job.

Right to bear arms is great and all, but I don't think the founding fathers had automatic muskets and extended mags... did they?

Anyway, I know the town/state will pay money to have me tracked and booked, but they won't pay for environmental conservation so yea, stalemate.

 

[EXCellR8]

wow, there really is no winning on eBay is there?

I sold four components on there this month, standard insertion. I could only charge up to $16.00 SH on one of them and I got charged $38.00 at the post office, standard service. OK... great.

My total sales equated to under $350.00 and my bill for this month is $75. Really? So I pretty much just gave away that $65 graphics card that had maybe 200 hours on it. Amazing economics indeed.

Pretty sure that "final value fee" could be considered exploitation but hey, what do I know?

 

[bbhaag]

Depending on the condition and vintage of the items you are trying to sell you could give Amibay a shot. It's a good honest community and people value a fair deal. A lot of us also buy with the intention of using what we buy not just shipping it off to a third world country. The only caveat is be prepared to ship internationally.

Anyway just throwing another option out there for ya.

 

[UsandThem]

Flea markets here got shut down for selling counterfeit goods; lot of drug trafficking too. Basically a black market in the mid-90's but state didn't care until early 00's. Of course there's a "heroin crisis" here in NH now and I can still buy a "pre-ban" AK47 with just a valid ID so... great job.

Right to bear arms is great and all, but I don't think the founding fathers had automatic muskets and extended mags... did they?

I saw this thread and came in to see if anybody had some good ideas for getting rid of e-waste for free, as I have some I need to get rid of as well. Then for some reason as I scrolled, I saw your post talking about gun issues. I was simply going to click back out, but......

As a gun owner who has seen this argument many, many times, you might want to watch this short video. And that "pre-ban AK" is not automatic. It is a semi-automatic. To buy an automatic weapon, there are several more steps you need to do besides simply showing an ID. I stay out of 'off topic' because I don't arguing on the internet on gun issues, but since it was posted in general hardware in an e-waste thread.....

http://louderwithcrowder.com/2nd-amendment-muskets/

http://blog.adamsarms.net/blog/how-do-i-get-an-nfa-tax-stamp

 

[XavierMace]

Drop it all off at a Goodwill/Salvation Army?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I just took two towers to Staples, they took them, no questions asked. (Yes, I did ask if they recycle PCs, they said "Yes, you can leave them right there.") (They were non-functional.)

 

[ch33zw1z]

One thing I don't do is leave disk drives anywhere until they're dban'd or physically destroyed with a couple drill holes. You never know who's the local b&m lurker is

 

[Mike64]

In addition to Best Buy, Staples also accepts electronics for recycling for free, don't they? (I think also with the same no monitors caveat, at least I've never seen one sitting there even when the recycling pile in my local store gets really big...)

 

[EXCellR8]

Ended up taking the bin of parts I had and filtered out the smaller working bits; just kept them.

Never heard back from the state, goodwill, or any "e-waste" handling company at all, nevermind an actual solution or anything close.

I brought some of the larger items and had them crushed at a privately-owned scrapyard. Staples took some of the hard drives, but their "tech" person didn't really state how they would be processed. Oh well, I tried.

 

[Mike64]

Apparently it was National Recycling Day recently, or some nonsense like that... Whatever it was, Staples was giving away coupons for $10 off a $20 or more purchase (for use after BF/CM), if you brought in pretty much any sort of "tech" item for recycling. Finally motivated me to get rid of a truly ancient Compaq Pentium PC that was already "old" when I bought it for $10-20 off Craigslist 10+ years ago, that I've more lately been using as a footrest under my desk.<lol> After cannibalizing it, of course - you never know when you might need a 3.5" internal floppy drive, a 120Gb IDE HD, miscellaneous case screws, or a couple of IDE cables, right?