MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651 
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Post by MeleeMonk on Mar 28, 2018 7:25:12 GMT
I have TWO BOXES completely full to the brim with old broken computer parts (motherboards, graphics cards, processors, etc.) in my attic. They're accumulated from all the PC building/gaming that my brother and I did growing up. I would like to recycle these parts but I have no clue where I would go to to do that, or if its even allowed.
This is really starting to bug me because each box weighs almost as much as I do, takes up a ton of space, and is putting a lot of strain on our ceiling; sometimes I get scared that it might collapse one of these days.
Has anyone here ever been in this situation? How should I go about getting rid of all this broken computer tech?
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,818
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Post by Cervantes on Mar 28, 2018 8:07:41 GMT
Yes, that can get annoying. I took a bunch of broken and just useless stuff to a recycling center in my town; maybe there's one near you that accepts electronics? Look up online!
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Mar 28, 2018 8:33:48 GMT
Yes, that can get annoying. I took a bunch of broken and just useless stuff to a recycling center in my town; maybe there's one near you that accepts electronics? Look up online! By that do you specifically mean computer parts? I need to know because computer parts aren't your typical electronics; I'm pretty sure they can contain some problematic metals like mercury, and a lot of dumps don't accept electronics that contain stuff like that (the local one that I'm familiar with doesn't). |
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billspreston
Cheru Wing
I wrote Max Reebo's first 3 hits
Posts: 336
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Post by billspreston on Mar 28, 2018 16:53:46 GMT
Get an IDE/Sata to usb converter and recover old files from your hard drives(if you want), then format them.
Then contact an organization like CARE to see if they accept computer donations in your area for their CDC program (computers for developing countries).
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Mar 28, 2018 19:31:10 GMT
Get an IDE/Sata to usb converter and recover old files from your hard drives(if you want), then format them. Then contact an organization like CARE to see if they accept computer donations in your area for their CDC program (computers for developing countries). But if the parts are broken then what's the point in donating them? |
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,818
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Post by Cervantes on Mar 28, 2018 21:14:00 GMT
Get an IDE/Sata to usb converter and recover old files from your hard drives(if you want), then format them. Then contact an organization like CARE to see if they accept computer donations in your area for their CDC program (computers for developing countries). But if the parts are broken then what's the point in donating them? Because these organizations LOVE dumping garbage in other countries so they will have to deal with it. Seriously though, yes, you must find a recycling center that accepts computer parts. I hope there is one in your region. |
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Mar 29, 2018 0:31:28 GMT
But if the parts are broken then what's the point in donating them? Because these organizations LOVE dumping garbage in other countries so they will have to deal with it. Seriously though, yes, you must find a recycling center that accepts computer parts. I hope there is one in your region. Oh, now I get it. I've heard of these shady organizations before. There's no way I'm going to support dumping my garbage into other country's landfills. I mean, it's just downright inconsiderate!I hope I can find a recycling plant close to my town, because if not I might have to drive a long ways. It's a small town, and there aren't many big cities near us (the closest city is about an hour's drive). |
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billspreston
Cheru Wing
I wrote Max Reebo's first 3 hits
Posts: 336
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Post by billspreston on Mar 29, 2018 2:20:22 GMT
Look you spazzes, first off there are charities that refurb computers for students in 3rd world countries. Second, I doubt most of your stuff is even broken. It's probably just old. If you literally have heaping boxes of broken computer parts, what the hell have you been doing to your PCs?? I'm not suggesting that you ship off motherboards that are broken in half. Just suggesting you try to see what you can have refurbished so that someone less fortunate can use it.  |
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billspreston
Cheru Wing
I wrote Max Reebo's first 3 hits
Posts: 336
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Post by billspreston on Mar 29, 2018 2:31:53 GMT
But since you're not interested in helping kids in Ghana you can try Staples. They might have a location in your area that will take your old parts.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,818
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Post by Cervantes on Mar 29, 2018 22:25:41 GMT
Look you spazzes, first off there are charities that refurb computers for students in 3rd world countries. I know this sounds great on paper, but trust me on this one. For a time, I worked as a professor in a project that went into the poorest cities/regions in my state (and remember, I'm in a 3rd world country). Sometimes those places received donations from well-meaning international charities, and these donations were a nightmare: the schools had to deal with a lot of bureaucracy because of every equipment received (and they didn't had people available to deal with that bureaucracy), then they had to allocate all these equipment in schools that just didn't have any space for them, then, IF they actually went through all the hoops to turn any of those computers on, they were super outdated machines that couldn't run anything. But then the schools couldn't just throw these equipment away (as they were donations by super good people!), so they just wasted entire rooms keeping them unused. So, yes, it sounds good on paper, but it's really awful in reality. |
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Jul 31, 2020 2:38:45 GMT
Look you spazzes, first off there are charities that refurb computers for students in 3rd world countries. I know this sounds great on paper, but trust me on this one. For a time, I worked as a professor in a project that went into the poorest cities/regions in my state (and remember, I'm in a 3rd world country). Sometimes those places received donations from well-meaning international charities, and these donations were a nightmare: the schools had to deal with a lot of bureaucracy because of every equipment received (and they didn't had people available to deal with that bureaucracy), then they had to allocate all these equipment in schools that just didn't have any space for them, then, IF they actually went through all the hoops to turn any of those computers on, they were super outdated machines that couldn't run anything. But then the schools couldn't just throw these equipment away (as they were donations by super good people!), so they just wasted entire rooms keeping them unused. So, yes, it sounds good on paper, but it's really awful in reality. I've been meaning to bring this up: I saw this Vsauce vid back when it was first posted and it mentions the exceedingly massive heaps of first world municipal waste accumulating through these "charities" in countries like (coincidentally) Ghana in Africa. The worst part about it is that these countries are so poor that they don't even have the technology to recycle the electronics that are defective/unusable, since recycling electronics is tricky business. So what results is stretches of beautiful african countryside transformed into heaping landfills of hazardous electronics. As an environmentalist I am completely against this practice. I don't even understand how this is still being allowed. I'm just glad I recycled my old electronics and I plan on continuing to recycle all of my computer stuff in the future, even if it does cost me a lot. I sure wish the American government offered free electronic recycling services like other first world countries do... |
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centipede
CGR Undertow Groupie
It was just one soy latte, I swear!
Posts: 2,690 
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Post by centipede on Jul 31, 2020 14:20:06 GMT
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Post by teddykongcountry on Sept 23, 2020 20:46:23 GMT
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Oct 1, 2020 2:15:15 GMT
I remember learning about this back when I was looking for a place that recycles electronics, but I decided against the idea since the closest Best Buy to where I live is an hour's drive. I recently found out that my state's DNR offers a recycling program for electronics, which is what I plan to use the next time I need to recycle computer parts. Unfortunately they still require you to pay for the service, which kinda sucks. Appreciate the help, though. |
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