Trash is treasure.

[Mitternacht]

So here at work, one of our dump trucks came in from a house that was on fire. Laying on top of the pile of garbage, like a jewel, is a newer computer. I go get it and take out the parts that I couldn't see get thrown away. It was in a fire, and you can really smell the smoke. I got a 80 gb IDE HDD, 1 GB of DDR PC3200 (512+256(2)), Pentium 4 w/ heatsink and fan, DVD drive and a CD burner, which are now in my Dell at work. :D

[Airbozo]

+rep for recycling computer parts.

In cali, that trash company would be fined big $$ for not separating out the electronic bits...

[Mitternacht]

+rep for recycling computer parts.

In cali, that trash company would be fined big $$ for not separating out the electronic bits...

1. Thanks. :D
2. ....you can get fined for that?

[slytherock]

In cali, that trash company would be fined big $$ for not separating out the electronic bits...
hope no one will see this, I got so many parts from trash... I dont want it to stop

[Airbozo]

1. Thanks. :D
2. ....you can get fined for that?

Big time fine!

Several laws were passed recently in cali that even dole out fines for having _1_ piece of recyclable material in your regular trash bin. They were tested recently by a citizen refusing to pay the fine and it went to court. Turns out the state shot themselves in the foot, since once you put your trash out on the curb it becomes public property (federal law) and you cannot be held liable for anything that gets put in your bin once it is out of your possession. The state must prove that you intentionally put the item in your bin to assess the fine.

I would like to see them prove that on my bin since I have to take my bins up to the main road which is a couple of blocks away.

[Airbozo]

hope no one will see this, I got so many parts from trash... I dont want it to stop

I also get some parts from the dipsy dumpster. We have 3 recycle bins outside: 1 for cardboard, one for metal and one for electronics.

[Mitternacht]

Thanks for the rep guys. Unfortunately I kinda smell like smoke now lol. The case was really burned too. The power supply? I couldn't imagine even turning that thing on. Motherboard only had 3 PCI slots anyways. Floppy was melted a little, but the disc drives were ok. IDE cables were nothing special. And there was a 56K card. So I took everything else.

[nil8]

If you guys want lots of old parts your best bet is to get in good with a corporate recycler. You would be amazed at the amount of stuff that gets disposed of.

[Mitternacht]

Just installed the 512 card I got into my parents' Compaq. Now it has 1 gig of DDR. I use the Compaq to game, soundblaster 24-bit 7.1 card, Radeon 9600 and now I have 1 gig of ram instead of 512. No more lag. :D

[DRece]

If you guys want lots of old parts your best bet is to get in good with a corporate recycler. You would be amazed at the amount of stuff that gets disposed of.

Is there any of those local?

[Mitternacht]

Is there any of those local?

I wish theres one around me too lol

[nil8]

Yes, there are Drece. Talk to Doyle, he should know where a couple are. If not, Poucher definitely does.

Mitter, I bet there are in your closest major city. Most states don't allow computer parts to be dumped anywhere because of the lead in old crt monitors, so companies pay recyclers to take the stuff, melt it down and sell it off.

The reality of the situation is that IT departments take all their old equipment that's useless to them and give it to the recyclers. Smart recyclers take the working equipment and sell it on ebay or a used computer parts store or wholesale. The broken or worthless crap is either landfill or recycled. A lot of what well-off businesses dump is working, older equipment that's fantastic to use as secondary boxes for whatever your little heart desires. Computer cases, old computers, keyboards, mice, monitors, ups, old servers, lots of stuff.

Look up computer recyclers in the yellow pages and give some a call. If you have room or time to deal with pallets of old junk, they will normally sell you one at a decent price.

I have a sudden feeling I'm the only packrat on the forums...

[DaveW]

I have a sudden feeling I'm the only packrat on the forums...

Hell no. But i have enough junk lying around here to not need to dumpster dive (or Midge Rake as we say in Scotland).

(say it mid-jee)

-Dave

[Indybird]

I always wish I could be in the spot when some dumbass throws away a $1500 Alienware cause they can't rid of some spyware (cause I know that happens)

[nil8]

I haven't dumpster dived in years. Last time I did it was in high school at one of the big office supply/electronic stores. I found a couple hundred feet of cable and some display items that were fun to smash.

Alright, pictures of the computer room. It's a mess. The UHaul blanket used to be something I slept under. Surprisingly warm.
All but 3 of the cases in the room have working computers in them. Guess which ones.

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/1910/picture049gq7.th.jpg (http://img106.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture049gq7.jpg)
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5843/picture050ou1.th.jpg (http://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture050ou1.jpg)
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/2022/picture051rg9.th.jpg (http://img404.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture051rg9.jpg)
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/992/picture052fv5.th.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture052fv5.jpg)
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/4240/picture054uj9.th.jpg (http://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture054uj9.jpg)
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3443/picture055nv5.th.jpg (http://img441.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture055nv5.jpg)
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1388/picture055hn4.th.jpg (http://img126.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture055hn4.jpg)
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/7738/picture058vx6.th.jpg (http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture058vx6.jpg)
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/191/picture060nm7.th.jpg (http://img401.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture060nm7.jpg)

The first video card I bought specifically for gaming. Helps prove my old school aptitude to the youngins'.
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/1782/picture064tl9.th.jpg (http://img401.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture064tl9.jpg)

My 80 lb monster monitor & ftp server.
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/9923/picture056jr7.th.jpg (http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture056jr7.jpg)
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/9706/picture057zb6.th.jpg (http://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture057zb6.jpg)

2nd mod I ever did. Used to be my fileserver. It's loud.
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/6997/picture053iv2.th.jpg (http://img441.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture053iv2.jpg)
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/299/picture059pv2.th.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture059pv2.jpg)

[Mitternacht]

I haven't dumpster dived in years. Last time I did it was in high school at one of the big office supply/electronic stores. I found a couple hundred feet of cable and some display items that were fun to smash.

I'll take a picture of my computer room in honor of this thread and show you all just how much crap I have.

I recycle computer parts every so often. I use PC100 RAM as bookmarks. :D