But as a hobbyist, it's also a gold mine. I have an endless bounty of free components. I rarely have to buy anything unless it's pretty rare, although I do still buy things like resistors, because the cost/benefit ratio of scavenging really low-value parts doesn't work for me.
We need more places like Portland, OR's Free Geek — it's a small warehouse full of surplus computer parts, you can drop off anything or walk out with everything necessary to build a whole PC desktop. The last time I was out there, they were bringing in whole palettes of old laptops and turning them into Chromebooks. Awesome stuff.
I'm currently sitting on a growing pile of brand new surplus cables, can't find anywhere similar in NYC that will take them. When I ask, folks say "just take them to some electronics recycling place." Recycling, as far as I can tell, at best means "shredding for excess gold and traces of lithium." I wanna see this stuff get used!
I bet that there are many thousands of people in NYC that feel as you do. You might consider starting a hobbyist swap meet kind of thing.
It might even be possible to cover any operating costs by selling used cables. In my area, there's an electronic recycling business that doesn't just shred everything -- they repair and refurbish as much as they can and sell it in their store. That's where I buy all my cables, because they have any cable you'd want for 1/10th the price. I was talking to the people working there, and they said that the cable sales alone account for nearly half of their revenue.
I think the consumer electronics industry will need to be heavily regulated to move away from consumable electronics before we see any meaningful change.
Electronics will need to be open so both the hardware and software can be repaired and maintained by others than the vender.
Looking at those photos, I can't help to wonder what % (say, by weight) of circuitboards, parts, cables etc are actually re-used at any point.
With remainder most likely winding up in a landfill, open-air fire pit, or low-tech metal recycling operation (like shred whole boards & mechanically sort the bits). In all cases, harmful to environment & people's health.
Shipping e-waste to countries like Ghana is not the problem here. But recipient should obey same environmental standards as country where it came from. Can't guarantee that? (proper machinery no-existant, corruption, no oversight etc). Then imho it's unethical/criminal to even ship it there.
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[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 27.9 ms ] threadBut as a hobbyist, it's also a gold mine. I have an endless bounty of free components. I rarely have to buy anything unless it's pretty rare, although I do still buy things like resistors, because the cost/benefit ratio of scavenging really low-value parts doesn't work for me.
I'm currently sitting on a growing pile of brand new surplus cables, can't find anywhere similar in NYC that will take them. When I ask, folks say "just take them to some electronics recycling place." Recycling, as far as I can tell, at best means "shredding for excess gold and traces of lithium." I wanna see this stuff get used!
It might even be possible to cover any operating costs by selling used cables. In my area, there's an electronic recycling business that doesn't just shred everything -- they repair and refurbish as much as they can and sell it in their store. That's where I buy all my cables, because they have any cable you'd want for 1/10th the price. I was talking to the people working there, and they said that the cable sales alone account for nearly half of their revenue.
Electronics will need to be open so both the hardware and software can be repaired and maintained by others than the vender.
With remainder most likely winding up in a landfill, open-air fire pit, or low-tech metal recycling operation (like shred whole boards & mechanically sort the bits). In all cases, harmful to environment & people's health.
Shipping e-waste to countries like Ghana is not the problem here. But recipient should obey same environmental standards as country where it came from. Can't guarantee that? (proper machinery no-existant, corruption, no oversight etc). Then imho it's unethical/criminal to even ship it there.
The Toxic Effects of Electronic Waste in Accra, Ghana (2019)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39760457