About computer recycling law, has it passed in your area?

[ROTS]

Apparently, they want a law that makes it illegal for a person to dump their computers?

So by next year or so, just like flat-screens, it will be a standard not to throw your garbage out, but make a trip to the electronics disposal.

Do you buy this, and is anybody fighting this law in your area of the world?

By law computers should be considered recyclables, for the cans and what not garbage man to deal with.

Not a special center.

It sounds like a cool law, but between us folks, they started this after forcing people into digital televisions.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

That law came and went here.

At first no electronics could go to the dump, they were brought to hazardous waste ( resource recovery ) site. Then they would shred them, shake and bake and save the precious metals.

Then they discovered that site could not come close to breaking even ( it takes lots of energy to recycle anything more complicated than paper ).

Now the electronics go to the dump again, but I have noticed they are separating them out from typical junk that is headed for a landfill or deep ocean. So they are most likely cherry picking for limited resource recovery efforts at that plant rather than keeping it running 24/7/365 and losing money all day long.

What you want to do is make a friend at the dump and work out a plan so you can grab discarded desktops and do your own recovery.

[dencorso]

[...] it takes lots of energy to recycle anything more complicated than paper ). [...]

Aluminum and bottle glass are also viable. Iron and PET can break even when done right. The rest are urban legends.

What you want to do is make a friend at the dump and work out a plan so you can grab discarded desktops and do your own recovery.

Sure. That's the way to go.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

[...] it takes lots of energy to recycle anything more complicated than paper ). [...]

Aluminum and bottle glass are also viable. Iron and PET can break even when done right. The rest are urban legends.

Yep, you're absolutely right. I forgot those.

I also didn't mention that coin cell batteries and smoke alarms and volatile liquids and construction materials still DO NOT go to the normal dump here. They are strictly hazardous waste still.

We started with the orange-top recycle containers here a few years ago at every house, in them goes paper and plastic and lightweight recycle junk. It sits side-by-side the identical, normal garbage containers headed for landfill. So that's four separate collections they run at huge cost to us. Weekly garbage, weekly recycle, bi-weekly dump we can drop off ( electronics included ), and 4 times a year hazardous drop-off.

[jaclaz]

Meet Guiyu:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste_in_Guiyu

http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1870162,00.html

but read also here:

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/e-waste-recycling-exports-are-good

jaclaz

[Tripredacus]

That law came and went here.

At first no electronics could go to the dump, they were brought to hazardous waste ( resource recovery ) site. Then they would shred them, shake and bake and save the precious metals.

Then they discovered that site could not come close to breaking even ( it takes lots of energy to recycle anything more complicated than paper ).

Now the electronics go to the dump again, but I have noticed they are separating them out from typical junk that is headed for a landfill or deep ocean. So they are most likely cherry picking for limited resource recovery efforts at that plant rather than keeping it running 24/7/365 and losing money all day long.

What you want to do is make a friend at the dump and work out a plan so you can grab discarded desktops and do your own recovery.

Of course, States being what they are, they are all different. I believe that technically, no electronics are allowed to be picked up with garbage, even on large items pickup. I mean, that is the law on the books. The garbage men do not look into what is in your garbage can before they put it in the compactor, and I bet most of them couldn't care less what you had in there. The only thing that is a real no-no is any television or monitor. I've yet to see people toss out an LCD, but many try to put out CRT and Projection sets. The garbage company will not even touch those items, and they can sit there for weeks before they disappear by whatever means.

And since the garbage company are not police and have no police escort, it really comes down to it being an unenforced crime. The only type of enforcement of electronics dumping comes to other companies being caught doing it, with inspections or whatever. There are certainly recycling centers sprinkled about that accept certain things and even some that would pay you for it if you brought in enough stuff. The tough part seems to be that it is difficult to find a place to recycle CRTs or otherwise dispose of them. Either a recycler will say they do not accept them, or that you need to pay them to take it. As such I have yet to find a place to recycle CRTs and I have 4 sitting in my basement awaiting some fate. 3 were monitors that went underwater, and the other is a television that failed a rejuvenation.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

That law came and went here.

At first no electronics could go to the dump, they were brought to hazardous waste ( resource recovery ) site. Then they would shred them, shake and bake and save the precious metals.

Then they discovered that site could not come close to breaking even ( it takes lots of energy to recycle anything more complicated than paper ).

Now the electronics go to the dump again, but I have noticed they are separating them out from typical junk that is headed for a landfill or deep ocean. So they are most likely cherry picking for limited resource recovery efforts at that plant rather than keeping it running 24/7/365 and losing money all day long.

What you want to do is make a friend at the dump and work out a plan so you can grab discarded desktops and do your own recovery.

Of course, States being what they are, they are all different. I believe that technically, no electronics are allowed to be picked up with garbage, even on large items pickup. I mean, that is the law on the books. The garbage men do not look into what is in your garbage can before they put it in the compactor, and I bet most of them couldn't care less what you had in there. The only thing that is a real no-no is any television or monitor. I've yet to see people toss out an LCD, but many try to put out CRT and Projection sets. The garbage company will not even touch those items, and they can sit there for weeks before they disappear by whatever means.

And since the garbage company are not police and have no police escort, it really comes down to it being an unenforced crime. The only type of enforcement of electronics dumping comes to other companies being caught doing it, with inspections or whatever. There are certainly recycling centers sprinkled about that accept certain things and even some that would pay you for it if you brought in enough stuff. The tough part seems to be that it is difficult to find a place to recycle CRTs or otherwise dispose of them. Either a recycler will say they do not accept them, or that you need to pay them to take it. As such I have yet to find a place to recycle CRTs and I have 4 sitting in my basement awaiting some fate. 3 were monitors that went underwater, and the other is a television that failed a rejuvenation.

Where I am in NY all electronics go to the bi-weekly spring to fall drop-off. They are stacked on pallets now rather than tossed in a big green compactor with other semi-electronic things like lamps, appliances, etc. Note that most of these other things also have PCBs ( printed circuit boards ). So if they were being pure about it they would isolate them all. But the latter mentioned catch-all semi-electronic stuff is crushed and most likely gets buried or sent to the ocean. I suppose it's possible that they just store it somewhere and then sell it to some other state's recycle plant, but I guess I'll never really know.

The TV's and displays that are palleted I am pretty sure get recycled somewhere, but they no longer are attempting their grandiose recycle plan here because it proved untenable.

I also got a few TV's sitting around, in fact I just haven't had the time to fix one nice flat 30-something inch CRT that I like a lot better than our 60" LED. That bad one ( machine gun power circuit ) probably just needs the power board cold solder joints reflowed so I will most likely get to it. Also have a lot of CRT computer displays and haven't decided how many to keep. I've determined to not discard any flat Trinitrons because I have yet to see a consumer LED that looks as good, but the small size does suck.

Transitions like this are painful because once you haul them off, they're gone forever. I've already had people look at computer CRTs and ask what they are ( folks only using tablets and laptops their whole life ) and noticing how bright and smooth and pleasant they are. It has made me think about keeping them all instead.

[jaclaz]

The TV's and displays that are palleted I am pretty sure get recycled somewhere, but they no longer are attempting their grandiose recycle plan here because it proved untenable.

Actually, JFYI, the - I guess only - CRT glass recycling plant in the US is near NY:

http://www.nulifeglass.com/index.htm

(it is supposed to be the "cleanest" of the possible alternatives )

jaclaz

[Tripredacus]

The TV's and displays that are palleted I am pretty sure get recycled somewhere, but they no longer are attempting their grandiose recycle plan here because it proved untenable.

Actually, JFYI, the - I guess only - CRT glass recycling plant in the US is near NY:

http://www.nulifeglass.com/index.htm

(it is supposed to be the "cleanest" of the possible alternatives )

jaclaz

New York State is a big place. I haven't the knowledge of which region in the state Charlotte is from. The place in your link is actually news to me, but it is one of the places that charges a fee. I wonder what it is and if it is worth it to be rid of 4 CRTs.

[jaclaz]

New York State is a big place. I haven't the knowledge of which region in the state Charlotte is from. The place in your link is actually news to me, but it is one of the places that charges a fee. I wonder what it is and if it is worth it to be rid of 4 CRTs.

The generic idea is that if there is a facility capable of recycling in an area, and if the recycling method is convenient economically or approved by local Laws (and sometimes financed by the municipality/state), service companies or "aggregators" may decide to create "delivery points" or "collection points" in the surrounding area.

See - as an example - what happens in New England/Massachussets:

http://www.recyclingelectronics.com/index.php/About

and they have "collection days", "residential pickup" days and CRT collection "events" :

http://www.recyclingelectronics.com/index.php/Fundraising

jaclaz

[bphlpt]

I'm in the county, not the city, so I have to take care of my own garbage and recycles, but then I don't have to pay city taxes either. So I pay a company $20 a month to take care of the garbage, just for the convenience, (and to avoid the nagging from my wife, LOL), but I do my own recycling. Our local recycle center, only a few miles from me, has a special bin for TV's, CRT's, projection units, computers, etc. You are not allowed to remove anything from that bin, in fact they have signs posting that it is illegal. (Which law and why??) Where they send them for recycling I'm not sure. They also have an area to drop off working electronics where others are allowed to pick up and take whatever they want. Altogether a working solution for me.

Cheers and Regarads

[MrJinje]

In my house no part of the computer goes unused.

Edited October 22, 2013 by MrJinje

[jaclaz]

This is just for Charlotte's interest, OBEY:

http://www.iamanangelchaser.com/expressions/subliminal_screens/subliminal_screens.html

jaclaz

P.S.: Forgot the Wayback machine link to the "new" MS product:

https://web.archive.org/web/20020811093649/http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/Features/2001/Sep01/09-20tvphotoviewer.asp

Edited October 22, 2013 by jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

This is just for Charlotte's interest, OBEY:

http://www.iamanangelchaser.com/expressions/subliminal_screens/subliminal_screens.html

And I expect we ain't seen nothing yet.