OT: Free Computer

[C5 Snowboarder]

I cleanup my computer room and elected to get rid of one of my older computers so I placed it at the curb with a FREE sign on it. It looks like a good clean computer-- I wonder if it would disappear quicker without a sign. Where is a thief when you want one?

[Blue Jays]

How about a handwritten sign that says, "This computer is valuable and is being picked-up by my neighbor. It is not garbage for disposal. Thanks." and see what happens!

[Pete Serotta]

Put a sign "Confidential IRS data and a little porn".

[Bud_E]

If that doesn't work, check this link :

http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste...ing/donate.htm

[TimB]

If it's in decent shape, check with one of your local schools about donating it. They will _LOVE_ you forever. (Well, at least as long as it keeps running.)

[Fixed]

sisters and nuns like computs. too
cheers

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . in answers to this, too! I've got a Mac Quadra 800 in its original box sitting down in my basement, complete with keyboard and mouse. I tried to give it to Salvation Army--they wouldn't take it. I wiped the hard drives except for the system and kids software. It's got 40mb RAM and a 230 mb hard drive and a second drive--I don't remember how much that is. It's got a 4x CD drive, too. When I got it in '93 that seemed like SO much!

There's nothing wrong with it. It's just old and slow and can't quite keep up with what's going on today . . . kind of like me on a club ride!

BBD

[thwart]

It may sit there for awhile...

In this area, you have to pay a small fee ($20, I think) to have your computer "recycled".

In my experience, older computers like your Mac are not of much use to anybody; nowadays PCs have become so darn cheap that even the Salvation Army can afford a relatively new one.

Disposing of computers is kind of a important area in terms of the environment... seems that there has been an increase in dangerous and difficult to recycle metals in landfills--- both Dell and Apple are working on that, if I remember correctly.

[chuckroast]

If everyone will permit a slight thread drift. This is increasingly going to be a dilemma for many of us as technology improvements continue. I am on the board of a non-profit electronics recycler. The evolution away from CRT to LCD monitors and the continuous improvement in CPU performance is filling the waste stream with white elephants that are hard to dispose of in a responsible manner. You will hear more and more stories of illegal disposal by unscrupulous companies of devices that have hazardous materials. Much hardware is sent offshore (particularly to China) where they are disassembled for the precious metals and smelted away.

What's my point? We all have hardware that's worth less than nothing, even to the Salvation Army. When you are ready to dispose, try to find a recycler that warrants a responsible disposal and be prepared to pay $8 to $12 for the service.

[pale scotsman]

It used to be you could sell the stuff by the pound... if you had enough. Now we deal with an outfit out of the Atlanta area that will haul it off to be recycled for free. Paying for disposal for thousands of pounds of stuff ain't cheap.

I had to put my foot down with our director of nursing that wanted to throw room after room of old stuff into a contruction dumpster, just to get rid of it.

Chuckroast is dead on about all the crap heading to our landfills. Heck, I've got a neighbor that put out his old PC in the trash pile, and when they didn't pick it up he just put it into a plastic bag and into the garbage can it went... right into the truck the next go around.

[Dekonick]

Thats a shame. Howard County, MD has a landfill that accepts old computers - that are sent off for recycling. As far as I am aware there is no fee as it is included in your property tax bill.

Some of the REALLY old hardware is collectible - may as well if you can unload it on Feebay...

[Blue Jays]

Look in the telephone directory for your county recycling center. Mine takes old computers and similar electronic devices at very minimal charge. I discarded two desktop machines, two printers, and assorted peripherals for about $15.00 last year.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . to properly recycle my old machine--IF I could figure out how to do it. The county here doesn't make it easy to dispose of "hazardous" materials.

I have about 2/3 of a bucket of driveway sealer that never got used. It's been sitting in my garage for almost 4 years and is now dried out into one big, hard lump. The garbage man won't take it. It's "hazardous." So I called the city. They have no program to dispose of "hazardous" materials--like my sealer, paint cans, aerosols, etc.--and they referred me to the county. Once I finally found the right office to ask at, they told me I'd have to bring it to their county farm on one of the waste collection days for toxics. But I'd have to make an appointment to drop it off, and they only have one collection day every three months and the one next month is full already. And even then, I'd have to purchase a special permit.

And--guess what!--the waste collection day is on a weekday. So even if I buy the permit, make the appointment, and do it three months in advance, I'd still have to take time off from work to cart it over there. So there it still sits in my garage, all the toxic fumes long since leached out of it. It's just a big lump of asphalt, the same as is outdoors all over my driveway. But the stuff already on my driveway is fine, yet because the dried-out leftover is still in the bucket, it's "hazardous waste."

Is it any wonder that people just go out and dump this stuff by the side of the road? Or put it in an opaque garbage bag and go ahead and put it out with the regular trash? Sheesh.

BBD

[thwart]

Dave, you are exactly right.

People want to do the right thing (well, most of 'em anyway). Unfortunately, government is not helping us enough here. When I talk to local folks about it, they say there are no funds to make it "easy" to recycle this sort of stuff...

But we've got it better than my in-laws in Georgia. For any recyclables, even the easy stuff---plastic, glass, tin cans... they have to truck it themselves to the local center. Only garbage gets curbside pickup. Wealthy community, too. Very wealthy.

So... lower property taxes mean less services. There's a surprise. You get what you pay for.

And the environment gets... you guessed it... f****d.