ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Computer Recycling Info

Updated on April 17, 2013

Recycling E-Waste and Electronics

Computer Recycling

The planet is slowly being filled up with junk created by our modern throw-away society. It's not our fault, it's just that we buy stuff that eventually stops working or becomes obsolete and then we don't know what to do with it.

The answer of course it to recycle but that is not quite as easy as it seems and lots of the stuff we have is full of other stuff that is not so good for the environment.

So recycle your electronic waste, old computers and old TVs, cell phones, mobile phones, photocopiers etc... - You know it makes sense What do we do with all our old electronic devices when we don't know what to do with them ? We would like to recycle them but sometimes they are just too old to be of any use to anyone. It's not as if they can be destroyed in giant paper shredders - they need to be carefully recycled, but we also know that this isn't happening. So here are some ideas on how to recycle your old electronic waste. This excellent article was published first here - computer recycling

How to Recycle All those Old Computers?


Computer Recycling

Computer Recycling Ecowarriors from Uranus
Computer Recycling Ecowarriors from Uranus

If you are anything like me you have a house full of old electronic junk gathering dust, particularly computers and computer monitors and even laptops and soon an ebook reader or two not to mention digital cameras. Well all this junk now has a name - it is called e-waste ! I bought my first PC way back in 1985, it had no hard drive but two ! floppy drives, it also had a RAM drive which was very useful, and what is more, I've still got it and it still works, but strangely enough I never use it (probably because of the lurid orange and black screen - the green and black screen died and I had to get a 'new' orange one).

So what do you do with all these old computers? Do you recycle them or just stuff them under the stairs and hope some idiot will steal them?

 

I read somewhere that 75% of all computers ever bought are still stored in people's houses, a veritable ecological time bomb given all the nasty chemicals they have locked up in them.

So what should we do with them ? Well at the moment the US government sends its old e-waste and other toxic e-junk to Africa, in particular Ghana where kids can make a dollar a day after school burning toxic waste and inhaling all those lovely fumes, and it's all legal (most other countries have signed directives banning the exporting of toxic waste - so any waste they send abroad is actually illegal - so it's nice to learn the US still prefers legality)..

Anyway, instead of shipping all that unloved e-waste to Africa here are my suggestions for what we should do with it. My preferred answer to the problem would be - rocket ships. Just load rocket ships up with all the old electronic junk we have lying around and send them off to the ends of the cosmos (or the sun) (or someone else's sun) - there could even be a system installed to use the computers themselves as rocket fuel. How neat is that?

Alternatively, we could build a huge conveyor belt leading up to the top of a really hot volcano and just tip everything in, I'm sure it would melt and if we are really lucky the volcano might be so hot it would destroy any nasty gases.

Method number 3 would be to scrunch all the computers and monitors up into small pieces and stuff them down all the holes we have made drilling oil wells. There must be plenty of oil wells that have run out of oil and have just left a big gaping void somewhere in the middle of the earth. So just fill up the voids with old computers and I'm sure eventually over time the plastic would be re-converted back into oil and we could use it all again ! Excellent!

Method 4 (the cheap version) take it all to the dark side of the moon and dump it - no need even to dig a hole and who would ever know.

Method 5 develop some sort of bacterium that eats plastics and nasty metals and farts out methane which we could put in cars and aeroplanes and the like.

Method 6 make power plants that actually convert old junk and recycle computers etc.. into electricity and stuff the fumes down into the previously-mentioned empty oil wells (in fact I think that method may already be in the pipeline).

Method 7 cover them in fish oil and feed them to whales. Whales have been known to be partial to the odd plastic bag or two, so they might quite like a computer to chew on.

Method 8 whenever anybody dies insist that they are buried in a lead coffin along with all their junk.

Well I can't think of any more sensible ideas, but if you have any please leave them in the comments section below.

If you really want to recycle your old computers and electronic junk then you had better check out this place - http://earth911.com/electronics/computers/computer-recycling-and-reuse/ - or have a look at the links below, I'm sure some of them will be useful.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)