Got Back From a Recycling Event (ATTN: NorthWest MLAers)

[II2II]

I think it is the responsability of the owners to offer working equipment for free/sale before it goes to a recycler.

Perhaps. On the other hand, the consumer has traditionally been responsible for the proper disposal of waste. Yet we know that they don't take that responsibility, even if it's as simple as separating used batteries from the normal waste stream.

Alas, people often need the state to do stuff for them because they are either ill informed or to lazy to do it themselves. And if that is reselling reusable material, so be it.

 

[MacMan]

I have heard stories of contracters who will charge a company money to take away "hazardous waste" such as mercury or chemicals, then re-sell it again to someone who wants it for huge amounts of profit. The one who loses out is the original company who wanted to dispose of the thing as they have paid someone to take it away and sell it. The same happens with electronics, though the volumes required to cut decent profits are generally greater than with chemical waste. You can see why these "recycling" companies have been springing up, there's good money to be made.

 

[Unknown_K]

Actually quite a bit of chemical waste is very expensive to neutralize and dump. Many times companies end up with barrels with multiple liquids dumped into it and have no idea what is in there, they need to have chemical tests done to figure out what needs to be done to it (expensive). You also have cases where materials that were legal to use were stored for decades and now are considered illegal and a carcinogen, so special care has to be taken to move it and recycle it. While lead was recycled into TV set screens with the switch to LCD I don't think the demand for it is that great anymore. Mercury was used for relays for decades before solid state devices took over that role, not sure its even used in thermometers anymore either.

 

[benjgvps]

Wow, that was a good eye you had there! To bad that it wasn't an event that you could come and walk off with stuff. The PCs are pretty handy as servers and having extra parts around. If more people just put these things in thrift stores when I go to visit them, I will be a happy man.