# How do I safely discard old computers/monitors?



## smoothjk

I have some obsolete computer equipment, and I was wondering how to safely get rid of it. I'm not a hardcore environmentalist or anything, but I'm against the idea of simply throwing it out, letting it end up in landfills.

What do most people do? I think it's too old to even donate. It's a Pentium 3, 600 MHz Hewlett-Packard. I also have an old, ugly monitor...


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## Gareth

Id donate it away, I am pretty sure somebody will make good use of it.


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## Bartmasta

Honestly I'd take a sledgehammer and destroy it.


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## Caminokid

I recycle them. There is gold on the boards. The cases are metal. I always use parts out them.


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## mac550

if you live in the uk ill take it off your hands if it works


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## Calibretto

Bartmasta said:


> Honestly I'd take a sledgehammer and destroy it.



Unless you want toxic chemicals roaming around (CRT monitors)


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## voyagerfan99

Pull the processor. There be gold on them processor feet!

I've got a box at work of about 100+ processors. Gotta figure out what we're gonna do with the gold.


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## PohTayToez

voyagerfan99 said:


> Pull the processor. There be gold on them processor feet!
> 
> I've got a box at work of about 100+ processors. Gotta figure out what we're gonna do with the gold.



Throw it on eBay, a lot of gold scrappers buy those parts, and pay a decent amount for them.


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## Tuffie

voyagerfan99 said:


> Pull the processor. There be gold on them processor feet!
> 
> I've got a box at work of about 100+ processors. Gotta figure out what we're gonna do with the gold.



Yeah there's like $40 worth of precious metal in the average computer, goddamn intrinsic value


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## zombine210

i researched this myself not too long ago...
(i ended up selling a box of old stuff for like $20)

yes, there is some precious metal in electronic eq., but it's not enough to justify the means of extracting it yourself, especially if it's just a few components; and because they contain mercury as well.

what recyclers do is send boatloads to china where people, including children, work on taking it apart for the reusable materials, poisoning their land and giving them cancer.

waste landfills will not likely sort out the electronic stuff from the rest of the junk when they dump it in the oceans.

crt monitors contain about 8lbs of lead and can be damaging to the environment either way.

also, you're right about not donating it. i read on some other forum/site that non-profits would generally not appreciate the 'old' junk donated to them. think about it, if they really need to do some serious work, they're not going to want the extra trouble of fixing the old computers for mediocre performance.

this is a tough one dude, let us know what you end up doing, but don't feel pressured or guilted into doing it one way or another. we've dug ourselves one nasty hole with this electronic stuff


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## Euklid

I hear that in some of the cities in China where they do this, it is so bad, they do not see the sky because a layer of toxic smoke always covers the city. They do not have any environmental laws to prevent this absolute destruction of environment.


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## konsole

You will be very surprised at how few if any people will take donations of even usable older computer equipment.  I tried donating 3 working crt monitors a few months ago but nobody wanted them, not ebay, not craigslist, not the library, not the schools.  In terms of the computer itself its too old for even a person looking for a really cheap pc.  There are a few people out there that have use for that computer but your not gonna find them.  If you can't find a recycling facility in your area then your gonna have to throw the stuff out.  I know it sucks and I felt the same when I put the 3 working monitors out on the street.


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## tremmor

i agree about the recycling facility. Honestly there is not one for 80 mi's. that won't happen. I did one time receive a letter from city and city they would take the collection at the hall with a special dumpster. i do have a friend that does have a melting facility in his garage. he separates the gold and silver or what ever metals and sales it. i think the normal is in the trash.


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