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Does e-waste have any vintage audio in it?

toxcrusadr

toxcrusadr

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Came across this from a KC area newspaper.

“There’s no law currently in place that forbids tossing TVs into the landfill,” as Shawnee Assistant City Manager Vicki Charlesworth points out.
No law in Kansas and Missouri, anyway.
Yet on the same day that Shawnee residents set out items on big-trash pickup day, they took more than 40,000 pounds of used electronic equipment to a city-sponsored drop-off site for recycling, Charlesworth said.
They even paid for the trouble: $7.50 for each TV and $4 for computer monitors.
Junked electronics filled two semitrailers, which were trucked to the underground headquarters of Lenexa-based R-3 Technology.
Earlier, those same caves temporarily housed 82,000 pounds of e-waste collected at a similar e-recycling event in Blue Springs. And 50,000 pounds from Lee’s Summit, and 40,000 pounds from Lenexa, and it goes on

I'm just wondering if people ever bring nice non-working vintage audio pieces to these dropoffs...anyone ever tried to work with an electronics recycling place to harvest stuff? We have a small one here that has an open-every- day dropoff bin at their plant, and the kids working there told me recently that they sometimes get wooden speakers that they throw in the trash dumpster. :scratch2: I was thinking of calling the owner and chatting about it.
 
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My school is doing something close....and will not let me at the piles! Quite a few R2R's left that day, I am sad to say....

Not that I need more stuff anyways :D
 
We have a huge site in Tucson, with all of us being so Green down here and all:thmbsp: They were looking for employee's last month and I almost went to apply, IIRC it was mostly computer stuff ro be refurbished for the needy, I know nothing about these here machines so I passed, didn't think about the possible gem popping up every now and then, Marantz scopes anyone:D Damn!!
 
We had an e-recycling day not long ago and I couldn't help but wonder myself if there was anything decent dropped off. Volunteering would probably be the only way to get an inside scoop, I suppose.

I read on another thread, that someone had a sign saying they bought old stereos for cash and handed out business cards to folks coming in when they dropped off their electronics. I wonder if any scores transpired through that method? :scratch2:
 
They have electronic's recycling at our local transfer station and will have you arrested if you remove anything once it hits the ground. I kid you not they allow NO cherry picking. You would have to talk the guy dumping it into handing it to you maybe even off site if you tried it more then once.

And everything no matter what it's actual worth is trucked to a company that helps handicapped people and stripped for the metal period. So a Pioneer SX-1980 with a bad fuse becomes worth $3.00 in metal.

Genius
 
My local (but very small) dump has a e-waste facililty. Not much comes through but I am now on a first name basis with the manager :smoke:

Have snagged some casstte decks, a realistic STA-52 reciever, rambler amp, and an orphaned AR bookshelf (dcw-10?), as well as passed on a fair bit of BPC.
 
Mark W. said:
They have electronic's recycling at our local transfer station and will have you arrested if you remove anything once it hits the ground. I kid you not they allow NO cherry picking. You would have to talk the guy dumping it into handing it to you maybe even off site if you tried it more then once.

And everything no matter what it's actual worth is trucked to a company that helps handicapped people and stripped for the metal period. So a Pioneer SX-1980 with a bad fuse becomes worth $3.00 in metal.

Genius
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Well that's just plain ****ing stupid, but it doesn't surprise me one bit. :no: This "green" madness generates more waste then it prevents IMO. What ever happened to reusing old things intact? That's recycling at it's highest point. Absolutely no waste, and someone is proud to own and cherish whatever the item is.
 
They don't let us 'pick' overhere at ewaste recycling day. Sucks.

I know for a fact that tons of audio gets crushed.
 
caddisgeek said:
Have snagged some casstte decks, a realistic STA-52 reciever, rambler amp, and an orphaned AR bookshelf (dcw-10?), as well as passed on a fair bit of BPC.
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Caddisgeek, hows that rambler amp goin for you? After I've fixed up my Rotel RA-311 I'm going to compare it to may Rambler to see if it should be in my main system, how are you finding the sound on yours? Your the only person I know of that has one.

I also got a dump about a 20min drive from my place, should check out if they have an e-waste facility. But honestly, the best stuff can be found in trash and treasure sales, and on the side of the road! (If you have a limited budget that is)
 
jhal said:
Well that's just plain ****ing stupid, but it doesn't surprise me one bit. :no: This "green" madness generates more waste then it prevents IMO. What ever happened to reusing old things intact? That's recycling at it's highest point. Absolutely no waste, and someone is proud to own and cherish whatever the item is.
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Exactly! This is exactly what I see to any eco-nuts who turn their noses up at taking "rubbish" from the heap whilst busy sorting their paper and plastic.

The dump near me doesn't allow picking through stuff either...I see speakers, receivers, all sorts of vintage stuff all lying there. You can't take it though, and they've threatened to call the police. I've scored a couple of things when I see it in the back of someone's car and ask politely - they're normally happy to let me have it. The dump trolls have a strong dislike for this for some reason though.
 
Absolutely reuse comes before recycling, and we have a ways to go teaching people about that. But why would you expect the average well-meaning recycler to know anything more about the value of vintage audio than the rest of the population? They're not stupid, just ignert.
 
toxcrusadr said:
Absolutely reuse comes before recycling, and we have a ways to go teaching people about that. But why would you expect the average well-meaning recycler to know anything more about the value of vintage audio than the rest of the population? They're not stupid, just ignert.
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I'd like to widen that value statement to everything - people don't realise that when they throw away that 14" CRT TV in perfect working order, someone might want it. Or that old PIII tower computer, whilst not good enough for the latest games is still perfect for typing letters.

I think people assume because it is of no value to them, it is therefore automatically of no value to others.

PS. Good thread, Tox!
 
If the collection facility will not allow you to retrieve any of the audio gear, try this- I parked my van close to the entry of the local drop off depot, and displayed a sign which said "All used audio equipment to be dropped off here". I kept the stuff I wanted, and at the close of the day, I took all of the stuff I didn't want into the depot!
 
JBLKRAZEE said:
If the collection facility will not allow you to retrieve any of the audio gear, try this- I parked my van close to the entry of the local drop off depot, and displayed a sign which said "All used audio equipment to be dropped off here". I kept the stuff I wanted, and at the close of the day, I took all of the stuff I didn't want into the depot!
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Thats awseome! Great idea heheh.
 
I called to volunteer for a local e-waste recycling event, but when I asked about cherry-picking anything still useful I was told that it wasn't allowed. Part of the problem seems to be the policy that guaranteed donors that all materials would be recycled and thus all computer data destroyed. It seems like a solution here would be to have a separate event just for computer and data sensitive stuff and get the other electronics into their own area. That and the sheer volume of junk people bring makes it really hard to spot the good stuff.
 
Shouldn't people be responsible for the destruction of their own computer data? I certainly don't expect the garbage man to destroy everything I throw away, that's why I cut old credit cards up.
 
andy said:
Shouldn't people be responsible for the destruction of their own computer data? I certainly don't expect the garbage man to destroy everything I throw away, that's why I cut old credit cards up.
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I once worked at a place that people donated used computers and we check, upgrade and format the drives, put in new software and give them to inner city school children who completed 100 hours of peer tutoring. You would not believe all kinds of personal stuff left on computers. It's scary! :sigh:

Even if you format your hard drive, don't assume that your data cannot be read, it can be recovered! :sigh:

The best is to destroy the hard drive or perform a Department of Defense wipe of your hard drive.
 
AnalogDigit said:
The best is to destroy the hard drive or perform a Department of Defense wipe of your hard drive.
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You mean, formatting it, then physically putting it into a powerful shredder, grinding it into powder, putting it into a concrete mix and make a wall out of it?
 
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