Recycling old machines

[Nelviticus]

I was reading a thread on this forum today where someone mentioned that they throw out old low-spec machines because they're worthless.

I just wanted to point out that there are charitable organisations that will happily take these machines off your hands for you and put them to good use - a 486 may not be worth anything to you but there are people out there who would love *any* computer that works or that can be repaired.

Finding such an organisation is pot luck if you have small numbers of machines to get rid of and some of the larger outfits may charge you for the privilege, but a) you'll be helping someone out and b) there are lots of nasty unpleasant things in most IT equipment that do nasty unpleasant things to the environment when they're dumped in landfill sites.

Near where I live I found someone who was willing to come out to my house to collect a non-working 15-inch monitor for charity, so it's worth looking into. I won't post any links because IT recyclers are location-specific, but a brief Google search should yield something in your area.

Nelviticus

 

[BadBigBen]

Thnx, Nelveticus, as this holds true to, I assume, the United States...

it doesn't hold true to Germany, over here we have strickt laws governing dumping of old TV's, Monitors, and PC's, these get recycled (as it is profitable for companies due to the Copper and Gold within these types of equipment), and could be fined up to two years of jail and/or monetary fines...

as PC's get cheaper and cheaper, a full functioning AMD 1600+ system plus hard drive, gfx card, case, can be had brand new for around 199 Euro ($240), a printer for around 30 Euro ($36) and a Monitor for 99 Euro ($120)... as well as private sales of older PC equip you can have a functioning system for around 100 Euro ($120) albeit P III class at around 800 to 1000 mhz...

the other point is that charitable orginisations overhere are more prone to accepting cash and food, to be distributed amongs the poor... as to getting trained in computer skills (office and such), can be gotten thru our goverment, when one is jobless and needs these skills to be competitive in the jobworld...

Ben

PS - nevertheless it is a darn good idea to do what you said... btw you can use an old 486 with Linux as a 1.) training computer and/or 2.) as a Hardware Firewall...

 

[Nelviticus]

There will be laws in place in the UK soon that force manufacturers of things like computers, cars, fridges and so on to provide a recycling service for their goods. However that will only apply to items produced after the law comes in, so people will still have to do their own recycling (or dumping) for many years to come.

Yes, most charities want clothing or food or money but there are several that specifically repair and pass on computers, either to voluntary groups in their own country or to countries where computers are unavailable except to the rich few.

If you're thinking about throwing computer equipment away because it's not worth selling it, think about donating it to a computer charity instead! It will only take a few minutes of your time to search for one and if you don't find one locally, what have you lost?

Sounds like Germany is way ahead of the UK on recycling!

Nelviticus

 

[BadBigBen]

Nelviticus - yeah about the way ahead on recycling, these laws where put into affect over 10 years ago, and cover older equipment aswell as newly produced ones... at my old workplace, we used to collect old hardware (PC, Telephone, TV's etc.) and another company came to pick it up for no charge, since they earned enough from the copper and gold... and we charged Siemens for the storage space only...

also over here we have places where one can bring by the older equipment (if still functioning) so it can be given or sold to lower income people... albeit this is no charity organisation...

Ben

PS - unfortunately some people don't hold to the recycling and still dump them in the countryside, where the taxpayer pays for it then, if the culprit can't be found...

 

[Sympology]

One place to check out in the UK is:

http://www.itforcharities.co.uk/pcs.htm

However as with many charities, they may have a minimum spec, so that 486 may still be used as a doorstop.
Stu..

Oh course I'll come back at lunchtime. When is it? Oh thats a shame, so's mine.

 

[rreinman]

Old PCs can be of interest to many people. A simple 486 for instance can be made to be a simple server, or an ftp server for all your big files you might want to share to other people.
386, 486 can do the job as inventory control for a warehouse, or at home business, a hardware firewall for someone to have the ultimate protection. Also they make an excellent word processor.
***Also you can donate like someone else said before and you can take an agreeable value off your income tax which many many people forget. This is of value if you have many PCs, old printers, monitors, etc. to donate.

Hope this helps

 

[JRBeltman]

I have been absolutely godsmacked by the interest of the people in London in old computers.

We put them up (p2 266 128MB 4GB + keyboard and mouse) for 25 pounds and people have been buying them constantly.

We have 2 left out of the 30. And we only have 50 people working for us.

One guy told me how he bought one for his dad. The first computer his dad had ever used! And so dad told his friends under a pint and more computers were sold! They seem crazy about it!

Any other old equipment we bring next door to the Red Cross. They are always happy with anything you have.

However for the smaller charities it is of no use getting computers if they have to go to foreign countries. Shipping often costs more than buying a computer abroad :-(

If the charity I am taking part in does find a way of shipping old equipment cheaply to foreign countries I will certainly let you know. People there are most happy with old equipment and as pointed out earlier: Linux runs really well on those PCs

JR
As a wise man once said: To build the house you need the stone.
Back to the Basics!

 

[inanejason8]

Legacy PC's while many people won't want to use in the home market. Lots of businesses could use them for a simple firewall, FTP server, or perhaps another machine that will do nothing but word processing. Or give it to your young kids so they can learn the basics of typing. Linux runs really well on older computers. And the hard drives can still be used for further storage.

 

[Mich]

We have a project on the table here (US) to replace any PC ,including monitor, less than 933 MHz. That meant hundreds of PCs and monitors had to be gotten rid of. I did a lot of research and found a local organization that recycled PCs for charities. Problem was they wanted to charge us $15 for every piece of equipment we gave them. Another company only charged $7 per piece of equipment, so we went with the lower bottom line.

Interesting idea the company we went with has. They charge us $7 per piece of equipment, pick the stuff up, wipe the data off (with a confidentiality agreement), refurbish the machine, then sell it on ebay. There is no telling how much money they are making. We pay them for the inventory that they sell!!

They have picked up close to 5000 pieces. Doing the quick math and assuming they average $50 (it's probably more than that) for each piece sold, that's $285,000 gross. Sweet deal if you ask me.

-If it ain't broke, break it and make it better.

 

[dkeaston]

Many states here in the US are charging fees when you purchase a new PC, assuming I suppose that you will be getting rid of your old one. So, if you can find someone to take it, all the better. Or you could be paying twice for the same thing (at least us Yanks will ;-)).

 

[BitFuzzy]

Make use of the older machines.

Diskless Terminal
Firewall
Router
Radius Server
MP3, video storage
Network Storage

and much much more.

 

[Sympology]

In many countries there are Yahoo groups called FreeCycle. This is where you put any old equipment up for "sale". The only catch? No money is involved. It's a way of getting rid of your old "junk" without skipping it. You may think it's rubbish, but someone else may want it. Basically "buyer" collects. It's growing all the time.

Stu..

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[orypecos]

Freecyle is just about everywhere now, and I have used it extensively, but I also use craigslist.org . It does not have as many cities covered, but their rules are not so taxing as some freecycle sites.

http://denver.craigslist.org/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DenverFreecycle/

These are the sites for denver, but there are sites around the world if you look at the site

http://freecycle.org/