The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - Who does recycle their used computer eq?

Who does recycle their used computer eq?

Without trying to sound like a troll, and without trying to start a flame war, I would like to pose a couple of questions to those of you who read JOS.

Do you recycle your used computer equipment?

Did you know or do you know if it can be recycled in your community?

Is their a used computer store in your community that buys the stuff?

Do you donate your companies used computers to schools or charities?

Minnow
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Much go my girlfriend's chagrin, and in all seroiusness, I keep my old computers.

I hate waiting for my computer to finish processes like uploading large files, downloading large files, burn a CD and so on, so I keep old computers around to perform these menail tasks "in the background" so I can launch large apps, reboot, and so forth without disturbing them.

My 233mhz computer with the 3gb hard drive from 1997 is sitting around waiting to be plugged in to the network (I'm getting a 4 way kvm switch).

The only computer I've had that I don't still own, including my Atari 800 XL is my 33mhz P1 from 1993, which I gave to my girlfriend when she went off to college in the mid 90's.

www.MarkTAW.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

I believe companies like Dell and Gateway will pay for your old computer in that they'll give you a discount if you trade in your old computer for a new one. You can also usually take it to the county dump/recycling center where they will usually have an electronics recycling bin.

Elephant
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

I doubt anyone would want my old Apricot PC (with the ribbon cable sqeezed through the side of the case to attach a hard disk).

Simon Lucy
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

I am a big believer in recycling. I mean I got my taste for programming on an amstrad greentube, the tape drive was broken so if I wanted to do anything I had to write the program first. (want to play blackjack? everytime I switched the computer on it had to be reprogrammed).

My point being what may seem obsolete, can actually be a good play to start.
Even the oldest of win3.11 machines has QBasic....

I keep all my computers at home (I like to have a good variety for testing, plus it just looks so cooling having two monitors and a laptop on your desk, even if they are unused 99.9% of the time).
Having a network means it is easy to do a quick backup to another HDD.

But at work we did manage to convince them to get rid of about 20 win3.11 computers to a charity. You never know who the next 'aussie chick' maybe .....

Aussie Chick
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

>Without trying to sound like a troll, and without trying to start a flame war, I would like to pose a couple of questions to those of you who read JOS.

Also curious, am I being naive? But how on earth would this type of question start a flame war? Is there a negative connotation to giving away computers?

Aussie Chick
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

I can only guess as to the cause of a flame war over PC recycling, but I'd bet it would go something like this:

Post 1: "I want to throw away my Pentium-166 piece of crap but I am concerned about the heavy metals and pollution this would cause..."

Post 2: "HEY YOU !@^*&!@! I *USE* a P-166 every day! How dare you denigrate my level of computer!"

Etc etc. Add comedic rimshot here. ;-)

Bored Bystander
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Aussie Chick: http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=104915&ixReplies=54

www.MarkTAW.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

For real? That is absolutely hilarious, that is so funny.
My gosh…and to think I have had my cheap printer running for 4 years, and have refilled my ink cartridges countless times….I would have had so much to contribute to that thread *grin*
….

Aussie Chick
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Heh. ;-)

So in general, we don't recycle our computers because we don't get rid of them?

www.MarkTAW.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2004

I do my part by not upgrading to a new computer every year. So far I buy a new computer about once every 8 years. In between I will add new memory to it and so forth.

My earliest two computers I donated to a computer museum and they were glad to get them for their collection. Then there was a computer that broke. I don't remember what happened to it. I think it just vanished.

The two computers after that I still have.

Doing my part for convervation to me means not recycling useless junk put paying extra to get good stuff to begin with and then getting every last ounce of usage out of it.

It's gotten hard with stereo equipment though. Even the expensive stuff breaks down. So you know what I do about that? I've stopped buying tape recorders because they are all junk. And I have stopped buying CD players because they are all junk. THe old ones I take a sledge hammer to them when I get frustrated with what junk they are and then I strip what is left for parts and make weird contraptions that make strange noises and flash and beep which I give away as presents to friends.

Dennis Atkins
Thursday, January 22, 2004

Well, since switching to consoles for gaming, I've started to find I really only replace my computers/components thereof when the go all the way to death.

At that point I try to foist them off onto people who think they're techie enough to fix it themselves (UNIX folk are generally good marks ^_^) - does that count as recycling?

Mediocre ASP Monkey
Thursday, January 22, 2004

Well, recently my dad decided to do the right thing and take a wrecked car to the metal recycler. Took it down there, and apparently it was worth about $15.

His response? "Fuck it, for that much money it's not worth it. Next time I'm paying $8 to take it to the tip like I used to, at least that way we can have some fun smashing the bastard up!"

So yeah, I think you need some incentive to recycle. ;)

I'm not convinced recycling is the right thing to do at this point in time anyway. Wouldn't we be better dumping the things in landfil until we have better power stations (ie not fossil fuel powered), and then at that point bother to recycle them when we're not doing so at the cost of the atmosphere?

Sum Dum Gai
Thursday, January 22, 2004

Recycling steel is fine. You do save fossli fuel, which would otherwiise be needed to take out the oxygen from the iron ore, apart from all the scarring to the landscape caused by mining, plus the problem of landfills.

I'm sure if your dad slipped the guy at the scap yard the other $7 he could smash it up there and have a clean conscience on top of his fun.

Stephen Jones
Thursday, January 22, 2004

I prefer recycling computer forum threads. Anyone want 2 chat about outsourcing, linux vs. NT, TiVo ?

Thursday, January 22, 2004

The flames about recycling used equipment might be from the environmentalists crawling up your back.

About a year ago there were complaints that the "recycling" of used computer equipment boiled down to shipping it to China, where it was dumping into the local rivers, letting the chemicals leak.

A-ha, a link: "The Myth of Computer Recycling"

http://www.wholelifetimes.com/computer_recycling.html

Myself: I have an ancient AMD 386-40 in my closet I have no use for. (A great Win 3.1 development machine, back in its day.) But I've kept it till now for the enviro reason.

Terry B. Barry
Tuesday, January 27, 2004