Baltimore County just started accepting, at one of its solid waste
facilities, tv's, computer monitors, vcr's, and some other electronic
things.

How much recycling is actually done to these things and how important
is it to recycle them?

They always mention lead first as a dangerous substance in tv's and
monitors, but it seems to me, all the lead is in the front panel of
the CRT, and it can't escape to poison the earth. Even if the glass
is broken, only a little surface is exposed, and I'm not sure if even
the lead along that surface can escape.

As to the rest, do they clip out the transistors to recycle the
germanium? How much recycling do they really do? I was told by a
recycler that no one will pay for the stuff, and the counties have to
pay them to come and get it. If it were really recycled, wouldn't it
be worth something?



(The radio didn't say one way or the other if they would now refuse to
pick up such things curbside, as they have been doing.)

Remove NOPSAM to email me..

mm spake thus:

Baltimore County just started accepting, at one of its solid waste
facilities, tv's, computer monitors, vcr's, and some other electronic
things.

How much recycling is actually done to these things and how important
is it to recycle them?

They always mention lead first as a dangerous substance in tv's and
monitors, but it seems to me, all the lead is in the front panel of
the CRT, and it can't escape to poison the earth. Even if the glass
is broken, only a little surface is exposed, and I'm not sure if even
the lead along that surface can escape.

First of all, not true: think about all the solder on the circuit
boards. Until manufacturers go to completely lead-free solder (ugh),
there'll be plenty of Pb besides in the tube.

It's not so much a matter of the lead "escaping" (I'm guessing you're
visualizing it going off into the air somehow) as leaching into water in
a landfill, where it can form all kinds of lead-containing compounds
that can come back to poison us. So yes, it's a real problem, not just
something that some environmental bureaucrat dreamed up.


--
"In 1964 Barry Goldwater declared: 'Elect me president, and I
will bomb the cities of Vietnam, defoliate the jungles, herd the
population into concentration camps and turn the country into a
wasteland.' But Lyndon Johnson said: 'No! No! No! Don't you dare do
that. Let ME do it.'"

- Characterization (paraphrased) of the 1964 Goldwater/Johnson
presidential race by Professor Irwin Corey, "The World's Foremost
Authority."

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
mm spake thus:

Baltimore County just started accepting, at one of its solid waste
facilities, tv's, computer monitors, vcr's, and some other electronic
things.

How much recycling is actually done to these things and how important
is it to recycle them?

They always mention lead first as a dangerous substance in tv's and
monitors, but it seems to me, all the lead is in the front panel of
the CRT, and it can't escape to poison the earth. Even if the glass
is broken, only a little surface is exposed, and I'm not sure if even
the lead along that surface can escape.

First of all, not true: think about all the solder on the circuit boards.
Until manufacturers go to completely lead-free solder (ugh), there'll be
plenty of Pb besides in the tube.

It's not so much a matter of the lead "escaping" (I'm guessing you're
visualizing it going off into the air somehow) as leaching into water in a
landfill, where it can form all kinds of lead-containing compounds that
can come back to poison us. So yes, it's a real problem, not just
something that some environmental bureaucrat dreamed up.


That's a matter of opinion ... There are many more much more serious sources
of environmental pollutants that represent a far greater risk to health than
lead in electronic waste.

Arfa

Arfa Daily spake thus:

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...

It's not so much a matter of the lead "escaping" (I'm guessing you're
visualizing it going off into the air somehow) as leaching into water in a
landfill, where it can form all kinds of lead-containing compounds that
can come back to poison us. So yes, it's a real problem, not just
something that some environmental bureaucrat dreamed up.

That's a matter of opinion ... There are many more much more serious sources
of environmental pollutants that represent a far greater risk to health than
lead in electronic waste.

Well, it's all relative, isn't it? My point was that lead pollution from
discarded electronics is a serious problem. If you live here in West
Oakland, then you're going to be more concerned about getting asthma
from all the trucks going in and out of the Port of Oakland.


--
"In 1964 Barry Goldwater declared: 'Elect me president, and I
will bomb the cities of Vietnam, defoliate the jungles, herd the
population into concentration camps and turn the country into a
wasteland.' But Lyndon Johnson said: 'No! No! No! Don't you dare do
that. Let ME do it.'"

- Characterization (paraphrased) of the 1964 Goldwater/Johnson
presidential race by Professor Irwin Corey, "The World's Foremost
Authority."

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
Arfa Daily spake thus:

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...

It's not so much a matter of the lead "escaping" (I'm guessing you're
visualizing it going off into the air somehow) as leaching into water in
a landfill, where it can form all kinds of lead-containing compounds that
can come back to poison us. So yes, it's a real problem, not just
something that some environmental bureaucrat dreamed up.

That's a matter of opinion ... There are many more much more serious
sources of environmental pollutants that represent a far greater risk to
health than lead in electronic waste.

Well, it's all relative, isn't it? My point was that lead pollution from
discarded electronics is a serious problem. If you live here in West
Oakland, then you're going to be more concerned about getting asthma from
all the trucks going in and out of the Port of Oakland.


You are correct that it is all relative, but unfortunately, the responses
are not relative pro rata, which was my point. No one would disagree that if
you get lead into your body in sufficient quantity, it's not gonna do you a
lot of good. The point is that it is actually quite difficult to get lead
into your body in sufficient quantity to do damage. Lead in gasoline was a
good way. Lead in solder or CRT glass faceplates, is not. Tin / lead solder
is a stable substance. No matter how much you run water over solder, the
lead ain't gonna leach out of it in sufficient concentration to be a
problem. Even if you factor in acid rain - and there's a lot less of that
now that there are laws against noxious airborne waste discharges of nasty
stuff like sulphur dioxide - you still have a hard job washing lead out of
solder into the water table.

Europe is renowned for having committes and workgroups and think-tanks who
come up with hysterical reactions to non-problems. Lead in solder is a good
example. Don't get me wrong. I am not against recycling per se, but for the
right reasons. Whilst on the surface, any actions that genuinely contribute
to " saving the planet " are laudable, and indeed desirable, you also have
to look at the other side of the coin which is often forgotten, and that is
the energy budget to carry out the recycling.

By the time you have collected your goods, sorted them in a heated and
well-lit worker-friendly warehouse that you had to custom build, dismantled
them, recovered any reusable materials, repurified them, remanufactured
them, and finally disposed of whatever is left, you may well have used more
energy, and contributed more to pollution, than if you had not bothered.
Just looking at lead free solder. I wonder how much additional energy is now
being used worldwide, to heat all of those solder baths up another 40
degrees, heat up all those rework stations another 40 degrees, heat up all
those millions of hand soldering irons another 40 degrees ? How much
additional transport energy to get goods suffering from lead-free bad joints
back to a repair centre, and then back to the customer ? Quite a lot I would
wager, and certainly more than a few wind turbines can make up ...

Arfa

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:40:57 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

[...]
You are correct that it is all relative, but unfortunately, the responses
are not relative pro rata, which was my point. No one would disagree that if
you get lead into your body in sufficient quantity, it's not gonna do you a
lot of good. The point is that it is actually quite difficult to get lead
into your body in sufficient quantity to do damage. Lead in gasoline was a
good way. Lead in solder or CRT glass faceplates, is not. Tin / lead solder
is a stable substance. No matter how much you run water over solder, the
lead ain't gonna leach out of it in sufficient concentration to be a
problem. Even if you factor in acid rain - and there's a lot less of that
now that there are laws against noxious airborne waste discharges of nasty
stuff like sulphur dioxide - you still have a hard job washing lead out of
solder into the water table.

[...]

Tell that to the Romans, whose much-lauded plumbing systems-- a marvel
of the ancient world -- were made with lead pipes, which many
historians have indicted as one of the reasons for the Decline and
Fall (crazy emperors, etc.)

Aspasia

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:40:57 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

I wonder how much additional energy is now
being used worldwide, to heat all of those solder baths up another 40
degrees, heat up all those rework stations another 40 degrees, heat up all
those millions of hand soldering irons another 40 degrees ?

Lead free solder! Does this mean I have to stock up on leaded solder,
for my own use?

How much
additional transport energy to get goods suffering from lead-free bad joints
back to a repair centre, and then back to the customer ? Quite a lot I would
wager, and certainly more than a few wind turbines can make up ...

Arfa


Remove NOPSAM to email me..

mm wrote:

Baltimore County just started accepting, at one of its solid waste
facilities, tv's, computer monitors, vcr's, and some other electronic
things.

How much recycling is actually done to these things and how important
is it to recycle them?

They always mention lead first as a dangerous substance in tv's and
monitors, but it seems to me, all the lead is in the front panel of
the CRT, and it can't escape to poison the earth. Even if the glass
is broken, only a little surface is exposed, and I'm not sure if even
the lead along that surface can escape.

As long as the dumps don't leach into the water table that's true.


As to the rest, do they clip out the transistors to recycle the
germanium? How much recycling do they really do? I was told by a
recycler that no one will pay for the stuff, and the counties have to
pay them to come and get it. If it were really recycled, wouldn't it
be worth something?

(The radio didn't say one way or the other if they would now refuse to
pick up such things curbside, as they have been doing.)

It's a con.

Ppl are in the future going to have to effectively *pay* for them to be
recycled simply because there is nothing much worth recycling !

It's started in Europe already. Expect prices of consumer electronics to
rise ~ 10%.

Graham

p.s. nesgroups aren't here for ppl to email you. You're meant to come back
to read the replies and comment otherwise the purpose of them is lost.

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 04:25:14 +0100, Eeyore
wrote:



p.s. nesgroups aren't here for ppl to email you. You're meant to come back
to read the replies and comment otherwise the purpose of them is lost.

I know. The sig is only intended for people who want to mail me for
whatever reasons of their own. I'm not requesting email.

Remove NOPSAM to email me..

mm wrote in
:

Baltimore County just started accepting, at one of its solid waste
facilities, tv's, computer monitors, vcr's, and some other electronic
things.

How much recycling is actually done to these things and how important
is it to recycle them?

They always mention lead first as a dangerous substance in tv's and
monitors, but it seems to me, all the lead is in the front panel of
the CRT, and it can't escape to poison the earth. Even if the glass
is broken, only a little surface is exposed, and I'm not sure if even
the lead along that surface can escape.

As to the rest, do they clip out the transistors to recycle the
germanium? How much recycling do they really do? I was told by a
recycler that no one will pay for the stuff, and the counties have to
pay them to come and get it. If it were really recycled, wouldn't it
be worth something?



(The radio didn't say one way or the other if they would now refuse to
pick up such things curbside, as they have been doing.)

Remove NOPSAM to email me..


I saw some show on TV a bit back where in some poor country they get
mountains of junk electronics appliances (locally or on barges, don't
recall exactly) and poor locals pick through them getting specs of all
kinds of stuff to raise a few bucks.

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:50:16 -0500, Al Bundy
wrote:


As to the rest, do they clip out the transistors to recycle the
germanium? How much recycling do they really do? I was told by a
recycler that no one will pay for the stuff, and the counties have to
pay them to come and get it. If it were really recycled, wouldn't it
be worth something?


I saw some show on TV a bit back where in some poor country they get
mountains of junk electronics appliances (locally or on barges, don't
recall exactly) and poor locals pick through them getting specs of all
kinds of stuff to raise a few bucks.

Wow. I guess it's better than the guano mines, but otoh, they pay a
lot better. Hard to believe it would be worth it to ship stuff from
the US all the way to this place, or anywhere like it.

Definitely they knowingly took tv's and monitors in Baltimore County
until this opened, and probably still do. Just Sunday a friend of
mine told me how he missed the annual neighborhood dumpster and didn't
know what to do with a whole door, but he put it out, and the county
took it. I've seen them take kitchen cabinets too.

But they did cut out once a month bulk collection (big things) and now
one has to phone someone, and agree on a day to put it out. And pay
for it in most cases.

Remove NOPSAM to email me..

Al Bundy ha escrito:

mm wrote in
:

Baltimore County just started accepting, at one of its solid waste
facilities, tv's, computer monitors, vcr's, and some other electronic
things.

How much recycling is actually done to these things and how important
is it to recycle them?

They always mention lead first as a dangerous substance in tv's and
monitors, but it seems to me, all the lead is in the front panel of
the CRT, and it can't escape to poison the earth. Even if the glass
is broken, only a little surface is exposed, and I'm not sure if even
the lead along that surface can escape.

As to the rest, do they clip out the transistors to recycle the
germanium? How much recycling do they really do? I was told by a
recycler that no one will pay for the stuff, and the counties have to
pay them to come and get it. If it were really recycled, wouldn't it
be worth something?



(The radio didn't say one way or the other if they would now refuse to
pick up such things curbside, as they have been doing.)

Remove NOPSAM to email me..


I saw some show on TV a bit back where in some poor country they get
mountains of junk electronics appliances (locally or on barges, don't
recall exactly) and poor locals pick through them getting specs of all
kinds of stuff to raise a few bucks.

that is known as e-waste dumping. Our post -consumer residue ends up
****ing over the envirnoment in the developing world. see these links:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1839997.stm

and

http://lowendmac.com/archive/02/0503.html

and
http://www.tchd.org/pdfs/electronic_waste.pdf
and
http://www.eldis.org/static/DOC12678.htm

apparently there was a treaty ( Basel Convention) , which the United
States has not ratified (along with almost any other environmental
initiative, Kyoto etc, the US government just does not want to know.
They probably owe so many favours to corporate interests that nothing
ever gets done.

-B.

I see no reason why the plastic and occasional metal casings can't be
recycled. The rest can go into an incinerator.

On 17 Oct 2006 06:36:10 -0700 wrote in Message id:
. com:

I see no reason why the plastic and occasional metal casings can't be
recycled. The rest can go into an incinerator.

Somehow, the thought of incinerating lead does not make me comfortable.
Not to mention the toxic gases from the electronic bits.

JW wrote:

On 17 Oct 2006 06:36:10 -0700 wrote in Message id:
. com:

I see no reason why the plastic and occasional metal casings can't be
recycled. The rest can go into an incinerator.

Somehow, the thought of incinerating lead does not make me comfortable.
Not to mention the toxic gases from the electronic bits.


Printed circuit boards have been burnt to recover the metals in EPA
licensed ovens for decades. The metal vapor condenses in the stack,
then the metals are separated chemically. A Japanese company has a
patent for a process that shreds scrap fiberglass PC boards, then
dissolves the metals in acid. The scrap fiberglass is washed, and mixed
with raw fiberglass to make things like sinks and bathtubs.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 06:18:22 -0400, JW wrote:

On 17 Oct 2006 06:36:10 -0700 wrote in Message id:
.com:

I see no reason why the plastic and occasional metal casings can't be
recycled. The rest can go into an incinerator.

Somehow, the thought of incinerating lead does not make me comfortable.
Not to mention the toxic gases from the electronic bits.

There isn't much in the universe that couldn't be recycled
if you could figure out a convenient way to separate it
from other bits.

b wrote:

that is known as e-waste dumping. Our post -consumer residue ends up
****ing over the envirnoment in the developing world. see these links:

This exists on a much, much larger scale in the industry known as
shipbreaking. When oceangoing vessels are retired, they often get sent
to a third world country, where they are taken onto the beach and
broken down into smaller pieces.

A Canadian photographer named Edward Burtynsky specializes in
photographing shipbreaking. There's a link to shipbreaking at his
website.

http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/

http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/WORKS/Ships/Ships.html

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

Look for his book "Manufactured Landscapes : The Photographs of Edward
Burtynsky."

"Al Bundy" wrote in message
...

I saw some show on TV a bit back where in some poor country they get
mountains of junk electronics appliances (locally or on barges, don't
recall exactly) and poor locals pick through them getting specs of all
kinds of stuff to raise a few bucks.

Yes, and they aren't following the EU protocols for handling such hazardous
waste.

"Al Bundy" wrote in message

I saw some show on TV a bit back where in some poor country they get
mountains of junk electronics appliances (locally or on barges, don't
recall exactly) and poor locals pick through them getting specs of all
kinds of stuff to raise a few bucks.

I guess there is some money to be made from them. I know of a plant being
built in Florida that will specialize in recycling electronics. Used to be
some gold in the connectors but I think much has been eliminated.

There must be a lot of bulk in that stuff. I'm just thinking of my personal
use over the last 15 - 20 years or so. I'm on my fifth monitor, at least
the fourth computer (some were upgraded in the same case), three printers
moved on, two TVs. Makes for a fair amount of bulk for just one person.

"Edwin Pawlowski" ) writes:
"Al Bundy" wrote in message

I saw some show on TV a bit back where in some poor country they get
mountains of junk electronics appliances (locally or on barges, don't
recall exactly) and poor locals pick through them getting specs of all
kinds of stuff to raise a few bucks.

I guess there is some money to be made from them. I know of a plant being
built in Florida that will specialize in recycling electronics. Used to be
some gold in the connectors but I think much has been eliminated.

There are two issues there. The first is keeping unneeded things out
of the landfill. The second is recovering some of the material.

The recovery is I gather expensive compared to what they recover, and
the materials needed for the recovery is toxic. So when it's shipped
over to third world countries, the danger comes because they are trying
to make money off it, and take steps that wouldn't be allowed in North
America. The toxic stuff ends up in the water table over there, rather
than in North America, though at least when it's shipped over there, they
are trying to do recovery.

There must be a lot of bulk in that stuff. I'm just thinking of my personal
use over the last 15 - 20 years or so. I'm on my fifth monitor, at least
the fourth computer (some were upgraded in the same case), three printers
moved on, two TVs. Makes for a fair amount of bulk for just one person.

If people simply did some stripping themselves before tossing, a good
portion of the bulk would diminish. If people throwing out computers would
take the electronics out, and then get the metal casing to metal recycling,
that does take care of much of the bulk. Same with printers, get the circuit
boards out of the plastic. Not a perfect solution, but better than
nothing.

I've never tossed something that is intact. But then I want the parts
myself. So I will strip a bad hard drive down, get the magnets out of it,
and the metal from them goes to metal recycling. This is not even some
great skill, if people can screw together an Ikea table, they can strip
down their computer before tossing.

But then there's an interesting point. If I come across a computer waiting
for the garbage, if it's intact (and of interest), I'd make the effort to
bring it home. But the more that's been stripped, the less likely I
will. I may take parts, if anything interesting remains. A complete
unit might find someone who can fix it or make use of it (a lot of
electronics is tossed for reasons other than it's broken), but a stripped
unit won't.

And as electronic recycling becomes common place, I'm not fully conviced
the right decisions will be made. I'd love to drop off some junk (like
that I've pulled from the garbage in the first place) and be able to claim
something someone else has tossed, that interests me or can finish off
something I have (like claim a hard drive to go in that computer I brought
home that had none). But that can't happen, because any useful items,
at least here, are sold on the used market to help finance the collection.
Yet I imagine there is much that can't find a market, because it's old
or obscure, the sorts of things I'd really like to come across. The rest
is likely stripped, but again, I wonder if they seek the hard to reuse
things like the gold on connectors, rather than the parts themselves.

Michael

Michael Black wrote:

And as electronic recycling becomes common place, I'm not fully conviced
the right decisions will be made. I'd love to drop off some junk (like
that I've pulled from the garbage in the first place) and be able to claim
something someone else has tossed, that interests me or can finish off
something I have (like claim a hard drive to go in that computer I brought
home that had none). But that can't happen, because any useful items,
at least here, are sold on the used market to help finance the collection.

Alexandria, Virginia, 50 miles to the southwest of the original poster,
prefers that "obsolete" computer equipment be turned in at the toxic
waste dump (as I call it), which is open one day per week. They have a
huge dumpster, open so that you can walk in, that slowly fills with
CPUs, printers, and monitors. In addition, people throw in old stereo
equipment and TV sets. When the coast is clear and no one is looking,
sometimes I help myself to an occasional goody. Usually I can recover a
toner cartridge or a needed cable. If I saw a nice open reel tape deck,
I'd try as hard as I could to grab it and run.

The woman who supervises the dump takes a dim view of this personal
recycling. She yells at me when she sees me in there, so I've had to
stop helping myself to the swag. It's a shame, too, as there is a
mountain of decent stuff that ought to be free for the taking.

I have seen one of those full dumpsters being hauled away. It was an
absolute heap of electronics, all headed off for destruction.

For an excellent resource for connecting people who have usable items
they don't want with people who would like to have them, check out
www.freecycle.org. It's set up as a way to keep things out of
landfills, when possible.

Jo Ann

Beloved Leader wrote:
Michael Black wrote:

And as electronic recycling becomes common place, I'm not fully conviced
the right decisions will be made. I'd love to drop off some junk (like
that I've pulled from the garbage in the first place) and be able to claim
something someone else has tossed, that interests me or can finish off
something I have (like claim a hard drive to go in that computer I brought
home that had none). But that can't happen, because any useful items,
at least here, are sold on the used market to help finance the collection.

Alexandria, Virginia, 50 miles to the southwest of the original poster,
prefers that "obsolete" computer equipment be turned in at the toxic
waste dump (as I call it), which is open one day per week. They have a
huge dumpster, open so that you can walk in, that slowly fills with
CPUs, printers, and monitors. In addition, people throw in old stereo
equipment and TV sets. When the coast is clear and no one is looking,
sometimes I help myself to an occasional goody. Usually I can recover a
toner cartridge or a needed cable. If I saw a nice open reel tape deck,
I'd try as hard as I could to grab it and run.

The woman who supervises the dump takes a dim view of this personal
recycling. She yells at me when she sees me in there, so I've had to
stop helping myself to the swag. It's a shame, too, as there is a
mountain of decent stuff that ought to be free for the taking.

I have seen one of those full dumpsters being hauled away. It was an
absolute heap of electronics, all headed off for destruction.

"Beloved Leader" wrote in message
ups.com...

The woman who supervises the dump takes a dim view of this personal
recycling. She yells at me when she sees me in there, so I've had to
stop helping myself to the swag. It's a shame, too, as there is a
mountain of decent stuff that ought to be free for the taking.

Contact the city government and tell them what you want to do.

Beloved Leader wrote:
Michael Black wrote:


And as electronic recycling becomes common place, I'm not fully conviced
the right decisions will be made. I'd love to drop off some junk (like
that I've pulled from the garbage in the first place) and be able to claim
something someone else has tossed, that interests me or can finish off
something I have (like claim a hard drive to go in that computer I brought
home that had none). But that can't happen, because any useful items,
at least here, are sold on the used market to help finance the collection.


Alexandria, Virginia, 50 miles to the southwest of the original poster,
prefers that "obsolete" computer equipment be turned in at the toxic
waste dump (as I call it), which is open one day per week. They have a
huge dumpster, open so that you can walk in, that slowly fills with
CPUs, printers, and monitors. In addition, people throw in old stereo
equipment and TV sets. When the coast is clear and no one is looking,
sometimes I help myself to an occasional goody. Usually I can recover a
toner cartridge or a needed cable. If I saw a nice open reel tape deck,
I'd try as hard as I could to grab it and run.

The woman who supervises the dump takes a dim view of this personal
recycling. She yells at me when she sees me in there, so I've had to
stop helping myself to the swag. It's a shame, too, as there is a
mountain of decent stuff that ought to be free for the taking.

I have seen one of those full dumpsters being hauled away. It was an
absolute heap of electronics, all headed off for destruction.



You can easily intercept a lot of good stuff if you post on craigslist
asking for free broken electronics. I used to pick up loads of good
stuff but eventually I had far too many projects and no need for any
more electronics.

"Beloved Leader" wrote in message
The woman who supervises the dump takes a dim view of this personal
recycling. She yells at me when she sees me in there, so I've had to
stop helping myself to the swag. It's a shame, too, as there is a
mountain of decent stuff that ought to be free for the taking.

There are some silly laws that say once something is in the dump, it must
stay there. Our town used to have an area where you could put unwanted
stuff for others to take, but no more.

On 17 Oct 2006 14:45:42 -0700, "Beloved Leader"
wrote:


Michael Black wrote:

And as electronic recycling becomes common place, I'm not fully conviced
the right decisions will be made. I'd love to drop off some junk (like
that I've pulled from the garbage in the first place) and be able to claim
something someone else has tossed, that interests me or can finish off
something I have (like claim a hard drive to go in that computer I brought
home that had none). But that can't happen, because any useful items,
at least here, are sold on the used market to help finance the collection.

Alexandria, Virginia, 50 miles to the southwest of the original poster,
prefers that "obsolete" computer equipment be turned in at the toxic
waste dump (as I call it), which is open one day per week. They have a
huge dumpster, open so that you can walk in, that slowly fills with
CPUs, printers, and monitors. In addition, people throw in old stereo
equipment and TV sets. When the coast is clear and no one is looking,
sometimes I help myself to an occasional goody. Usually I can recover a
toner cartridge or a needed cable. If I saw a nice open reel tape deck,
I'd try as hard as I could to grab it and run.

The woman who supervises the dump takes a dim view of this personal
recycling. She yells at me when she sees me in there, so I've had to
stop helping myself to the swag. It's a shame, too, as there is a
mountain of decent stuff that ought to be free for the taking.

I agree with you.

I once told the story of drivign down 2nd Avenue in NYC, somewhere in
the 20's and seeing a big (though only 5 or 6 foot high dumpster full
of books.

There were about 6 guys inside gathering books, plus I joined them of
course. All hardback, on every subject. There were 3 kinds of
people, those who would get in for a while, those who would just walk
by, and those who would stand outside once in a while pointing to a
book and asking someone to get it for them. How they could see the
title on a hardback book with no dust cover, I don't know.

I got about 20 or 25 books the first day, and I went back 2 out of the
next 4 days. The level of books kept getting lower. There must have
been 20,000 to start, and maybe 10,000 when I stopped going. But they
were probably adding more books every day also. (I had to come from
Brooklyn.) The weather was beautiful every day. New Yorkers are used
to finding good stuff in the trash, because most aparatments are small
and even in the 70's people couldnt even keep a broken 12 inch tv
waiting for a time to fix it. No room.

I got about 35 books in total.

I have seen one of those full dumpsters being hauled away. It was an
absolute heap of electronics, all headed off for destruction.


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A lot of what's on TV may be "hazardous waste," but I've never had a
problem getting rid of one. I put it on the curb and it disappears
long before the garbage men get to it. G

"GWB" wrote in message
news
A lot of what's on TV may be "hazardous waste," but I've never had a
problem getting rid of one. I put it on the curb and it disappears
long before the garbage men get to it. G

It's interesting that you are still able to do that, there. Over here now,
the eco-police in the form of the local council, would be liable to
prosecute you. Under laws that were brought in in 1990, but have only
started to be enforced since 1999, they can prosecute you for all sorts of
garbage related 'offences', including leaving trash out on the street on the
wrong collection day. My bin men come round at 7am, so everyone leaves their
garbage out the night before. Strictly speaking, this can now be declared
illegal, and subject to prosecution. A person was recently prosecuted, at a
cost of £6000, for putting out her rubbish a day early, because she was
going on holiday. In today's paper, there is a case of a man who has been
fined £100 plus another £100 in costs, because a piece of junk mail with his
name on it, was found in a bag designated as being for glass and tins only.
The guy was actually taking part in the scheme voluntarily, but as a result,
now has a criminal record, with all the job and travel-related implications
of that. There was not even any CCTV or witness evidence to support the case
and, despite the guy's insistence that he did not put the item in there,
because it was not even his bag, the court declared the case proved. So how
does nonsense like this encourage people to become more eco and recycle
friendly ?

Arfa

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:42:17 -0500, GWB wrote:

A lot of what's on TV may be "hazardous waste," but I've never had a
problem getting rid of one. I put it on the curb and it disappears
long before the garbage men get to it. G

Even though the people in my n'hood are not rich, I dont' get the
feeling that many know how to fix much.

That's ok. I'm usually the last stop before things can't be repaired
by an amateur. And pros don't want to bother.

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On 17 Oct 2006 21:05:03 GMT, (Michael Black)
wrote:



I've never tossed something that is intact.

Neither have I, but I am 59 and I've reached my limit. I have twelve
12" tv's, half color and have black and white, that I have tried or
will try to fix, and about twelve 19" tvs, all color, that I haven't
tried to fix yet but will give them maybe an hour each. But now I
have 3 more than I can use 19 inch that work, all from the trash. In
the last couple years, most that I have found still work.

And last week I found a 24 or 25 inch model. So far it only gets 2, 4
(DC), 11, 13, and 24, but that's using the autofinder. I have to set
a remote to try other stations we have, and if it gets them all, or
even channel 3, I'll use all my strength and get it down to the
basement. It must be fairly old, or maybe it is because of the
picture tube, because it is heavier than other recent 19inch tv's, and
bulky, and I have ready dropped the thing once, breaking the plastic
things the back is screwed to. But I can glue that together well
enough.

But I'm not taking it downstairs until I know it works, so it has been
on the front sidewalk covered by a blue mesh tarp for the last 8 days.

Anyhow, what is the point of fixing tv's that I don't need and will be
almost obsolete in 2? years. (Almost because I'm not buying 7 new
tv's and there won't be any on the sidewalk for a few years, so I'm
going to buy one adapter and use one central place for tuning all the
tv's.

And I can't strip them because I'm out of room for storing such parts.
So 24 tv's or more are going to go out pretty much in one piece during
the next 4 months. Plus I have a small xerox machine that according
to the paperwork I found with it, the previous owner didn't want to
pay to have it fixed, and I don't think I can. And a big but light
laser printer that needs a new heater, that I got for free or under 5
dollars, and it wasn't worth fixing.

But then I want the parts
myself. So I will strip a bad hard drive down, get the magnets out of it,
and the metal from them goes to metal recycling. This is not even some
great skill, if people can screw together an Ikea table, they can strip
down their computer before tossing.

But they won't. This is why I'm pretty sure the trash man will still
take tv's, because for a lot of people, it will be an incredible chore
to go to this one place in central baltimore county, 20 or 30 miles
from where some people live.

But then there's an interesting point. If I come across a computer waiting
for the garbage, if it's intact (and of interest), I'd make the effort to
bring it home.

I do that too. So far the fastest I've gotten was 200 MHz, but it was
a Dell also and I wanted one for a particular reason.

But the more that's been stripped, the less likely I
will. I may take parts, if anything interesting remains. A complete
unit might find someone who can fix it or make use of it (a lot of
electronics is tossed for reasons other than it's broken), but a stripped
unit won't.

And as electronic recycling becomes common place, I'm not fully conviced
the right decisions will be made. I'd love to drop off some junk (like
that I've pulled from the garbage in the first place) and be able to claim
something someone else has tossed, that interests me or can finish off
something I have (like claim a hard drive to go in that computer I brought
home that had none). But that can't happen, because any useful items,
at least here, are sold on the used market to help finance the collection.
Yet I imagine there is much that can't find a market, because it's old
or obscure, the sorts of things I'd really like to come across. The rest
is likely stripped, but again, I wonder if they seek the hard to reuse
things like the gold on connectors, rather than the parts themselves.

I just want to get a 1" x 1 1/2" x 1/4" plastic piece that says
Kenmore on it, from a refrigerator at the waste disposal place, but I
haven't found one yet. I knocked the piece off and it should be on
the floor in my kitchen somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. If I
order the part, it will probably be 325 dollars.


Michael


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"mm" wrote in message
...
Baltimore County just started accepting, at one of its solid waste
facilities, tv's, computer monitors, vcr's, and some other electronic
things.

How much recycling is actually done to these things and how important
is it to recycle them?

(The radio didn't say one way or the other if they would now refuse to
pick up such things curbside, as they have been doing.)

In Seattle, you have to pay normally to get rid of tv's and monitors.
They won't take your garbage if they are seen in it.,

Bob

mm wrote:
Baltimore County just started accepting, at one of its solid waste
facilities, tv's, computer monitors, vcr's, and some other electronic
things.

How much recycling is actually done to these things and how important
is it to recycle them?

They always mention lead first as a dangerous substance in tv's and
monitors, but it seems to me, all the lead is in the front panel of
the CRT, and it can't escape to poison the earth. Even if the glass
is broken, only a little surface is exposed, and I'm not sure if even
the lead along that surface can escape.

As to the rest, do they clip out the transistors to recycle the
germanium? How much recycling do they really do? I was told by a
recycler that no one will pay for the stuff, and the counties have to
pay them to come and get it. If it were really recycled, wouldn't it
be worth something?



(The radio didn't say one way or the other if they would now refuse to
pick up such things curbside, as they have been doing.)

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Turns out, from some sites I saw a few months back and am too lazy to
look up, a lot of the stuff gets sent to third world countries where,
as usual, badly paid and often underage workers get to snarf up lots of
heavy metals and assorted other toxins in order to disassemble the crap
to reclaim the 30 cents of gold plating on the contacts, or some such.
So goeth the world.