What's the situation with E-Waste in your country? Can you 'pick up for repair'?

[SolderSucker]

In my country (UK) there doesn't appear to be any 'official' way to get hold of E-Waste from the recycling/waste centres for personal use (either that's in working condition or for repair and perhaps even to sell it on once repaired).

What's the situation in your country?

Do the local recycling depots allow people to go through their piles of E-Waste and take (or buy) whatever they like (if it's only a few items)?

Or do they go one step further and have it all laid out so that people can browse what's available and take (or buy) a few items?

[u666sa]

People usually throw out CRT televisions, that's like 90% of time. You have to visit dumps often to get anything. Because dudes actually scope them, they are a nice source for quality caps, better stuff you can buy from China. I was also able to scavenge LED square office light, got a bunch of LEDs for myself and two power supplies. All free, if you can get to dumpster quickly enough. 

[Roehrenonkel]

Hi SolderSucker,

here in germany it's real bad.
You are not allowed to take anything
and if you bring to much they even charge you!
Waste (and especially e-waste) is a big business.
All that "recycle"-talk is just green blah-blah.

Best regards

[Bud]

Here i do not need to visit a dumpster. People put stuff out by the curb by the garbage day and you can take what you want. In fact i am trying Not to take stuff anymore, as enough was hoarded already 

[xrunner]

Here i do not need to visit a dumpster. People put stuff out by the curb by the garbage day and you can take what you want. In fact i am trying Not to take stuff anymore, as enough was hoarded already 

My city has a drop-off for e-waste but I haven't used it in a while. I just put it out by the street here in the 'hood. There are people who collect metal, and if they think it has metal in it they will pick it up. I dunno why some of the other e-waste I put out is picked up, and I don't care as long as it's gone. 

[coppercone2]

[retiredfeline]

I'm pretty sure waste collection centres here don't allow hobbyists to go pick what they like because it would be disruptive to their operations, would only cover a tiny fraction of their waste stream, and there are OH&S and liability issues letting random people onto their premises.

From a recycling point of view it would be better to encourage people to take stuff to community repair centres in the first place, but these only exist in certain cities.

If you are after stuff, just cruise the streets on the night before collection. Even that is frowned on by councils because some collectors make a mess extracting what they want so you have to do this stealthily. For a long time I used to see CRTs on televisions and monitors smashed to detach the yoke which contains a lot of copper.

[tom66]

I used to put up ads on Gumtree offering to buy faulty TVs (as I knew a lot about repairing them during my student years.)  I asked at the local tip, but mostly the answer was no.  One guy took £20 and looked the other way when I spotted a rare Panasonic plasma (with a well known fault), but I never saw him after that, so make of that what you will.

I haven't done repair in any serious sense for at least 5 years now, it just isn't worth my time.  Good way to learn troubleshooting and system design for sure though.

[eliocor]

Here in NE Italy (at least in my town) is forbidden to take anything from the e-waste center.... 

[thm_w]

Not allowed here for public recycling (Canada). For private recycling depots you can just go in and ask and they will let you walk around and buy whatever you want. But its mostly metal yards here not electronics, maybe if you're lucky you'll see some motors.

I'm pretty sure waste collection centres here don't allow hobbyists to go pick what they like because it would be disruptive to their operations, would only cover a tiny fraction of their waste stream, and there are OH&S and liability issues letting random people onto their premises.

Yes main thing is liability issues. Though it would be nice if you could sign a waiver, and donate some money, but at that point its too much work for them.

Hi SolderSucker,

here in germany it's real bad.
You are not allowed to take anything
and if you bring to much they even charge you!
Waste (and especially e-waste) is a big business.
All that "recycle"-talk is just green blah-blah.

You should see the stuff this guy gets a hold of, but I assume he visits a private scrapyard:

[Andy Chee]

Apart from the central waste collection depots, our major office supply retailer Officeworks (Office Depot in the USA, maybe Staples in the UK?) contains e-waste bins at the store entrance.  Strictly no dumpster diving, but I try to have a quick rummage around while no-one is looking.

[Njk]

I'm pretty sure waste collection centres here don't allow hobbyists to go pick what they like because it would be disruptive to their operations, would only cover a tiny fraction of their waste stream, and there are OH&S and liability issues letting random people onto their premises.

That's for sure. Seen that. Back in seventies, here was a goverment-running trade-in scheme for consumer equipment. You could give up your old TV and get a discount certificate to buy a new one. The location of the processing facility was known to every local boy. In my town, it was a fenced field in the outskirt. A truck loads of old TVs were dumped there forming a large hill. Periodically, a caterpillar tractor was driven over the hill with the two purposes. To reduce the height of the hill so more TVs can be dumped there, and to prevent someone from getting something from the heap to sell it for money (an entrepreneurship was a crime). I was a schoolboy at the time and frequently sourced an electronic components from that place. We kept track of the heap status. The territory was lightly guarded and there was a big dog. But the dog was more hungry than evil, so we usually brought some raw meat with bones. While one boy was distracting the dog with food, the other could jump over the barber wire fence and start collecting the components. That very was funny.

[EPAIII]

Here in Beaumont, TX we have several Goodwill centers that accept used electronics. They actually have someone who checks them out - I don't know if that person does any repairs or not. But they do resell the working ones. I have taken a number of items there and have even purchased an item or two.

Goodwill is not a government owned thing. I think it is a private company and I believe they do operate for profit. But they are a source of inexpensive items for those who can't afford full price. When you get your merchandise for free, you don't need to charge a lot to make a small profit. And it is nice to see things actually being recycled instead of just increasing the height of those hills in the land fills.

And we have a separate trash pick-up on the same day that the garbage is picked up. Items are just placed at the side of the street and a truck with a claw arm picks everything up. I have heard that the workers on that truck often grab things of value. Again, it is nice to see some of the waste being recycled.

[abeyer]

WA, USA: locally we outsource a lot of ewaste handling to commercial companies -- some of which run full on retail stores reselling stuff that still works or is repairable. They're somewhat dangerous, as it's easy to go drop off a bit of junk, and come home with a box full of more junk! 

[wilfred]

Here i do not need to visit a dumpster. People put stuff out by the curb by the garbage day and you can take what you want. In fact i am trying Not to take stuff anymore, as enough was hoarded already 

Amen to that. Here in Australia I go shopping at La Strada (the roadside) but I have to pass by sometimes because people throw out too much stuff. My microwave failed after 12 years a few months ago whilst heating breakfast. By 11am I had gone 400m down the road and found another one brought it back home and it is working perfectly fine today. Best part is it was identical so I didn't even need to print and laminate another cheat sheet for rarely used functions.

Not e-waste but a year ago I was heading out to buy a trolley jack, I got 4 houses down the street and picked up a better one than I ever would've bought. I just needed to find a circlip to secure one of the castor wheels from falling out if you picked it up.

I've got in the last two weeks a pair of Hoover vacuum cleaners that had the full light on. They weren't old or worn out and a clean of the filters was all that was needed.

These are barely even repairs. And aside from looking for a microwave for a spare HV diode I wasn't even looking for stuff. It was between home and the local shops.

[AVGresponding]

I'm pretty sure waste collection centres here don't allow hobbyists to go pick what they like because it would be disruptive to their operations, would only cover a tiny fraction of their waste stream, and there are OH&S and liability issues letting random people onto their premises.

From a recycling point of view it would be better to encourage people to take stuff to community repair centres in the first place, but these only exist in certain cities.

If you are after stuff, just cruise the streets on the night before collection. Even that is frowned on by councils because some collectors make a mess extracting what they want so you have to do this stealthily. For a long time I used to see CRTs on televisions and monitors smashed to detach the yoke which contains a lot of copper.

Partly this ^, and also because the waste collection site will (or at least should) have a contract/contracts with organisation/s that process whole items for reuse.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/waste-electrical-and-electronic-equipment-weee-collection-code-of-practice/collection-of-waste-electrical-and-electronic-equipment-weee-from-designated-collection-facilities-dcfs-code-of-practice#contents

[mendip_discovery]

Our local recycling centres to me used to keep stuff to the side for people they knew. Oddly most of the staff were from a known community where living near the edge of the law is the norm. The issue I had was that the stuff would often appear at the next carboot sale, I got caught out a few times myself.

There have been a few shows on TV that have used stuff from the recycling centres but with strong wording they got permission first. They restore it and sell it for a profit. They always end up making profit even though it was lucky they got some random material that would normally cost a silly amount.

These days there are plenty of CCTV around to prevent the staff taking bribes etc. But I haven't seen much that has tempted me for years, as most of the scrap ends up on ebay.

[CJay]

What you're looking for, I think, is a 'licence to extract', your local authority should be able to at least acknowledge the existence of such a thing but it's entirely possible that they won't issue one as the local refuse facility is run by a private company and/or they already have contracts in place.

The operators of the site are not likely to be happy to allow you to rummage through as well because elfin safety (not unreasonable at my local one, they have great big open topped contaners and falling into one of those or having a pile of crap fall onto you would not be good for your health).

It does hurt though, seeing all the 'stuff' thrown away, so much of it either easily repairable or not even faulty, just replaced because fashion or 'too old'.

[cburgess]

Another option might be freecycle.org   

I've sometimes seen people post "wanted" for this kind of stuff.  It's a win-win - effectively intercepting items before they get to the tip.
Years ago I got hold of a decent guitar amp that the owner was throwing out because it needed a couple of scratchy pots replacing.
A useful way of keeping things out of landfill.

[johansen]

I found a friend 's. Brother's. and his moms laptop at the dump.

They have never really looked at me the same since i asked them for the password so i could use the windows operating system.

My guess is most places wont let you take stuff for fear of identity theft.

[Andy Chee]

I found a friend 's. Brother's. and his moms laptop at the dump.

They have never really looked at me the same since i asked them for the password so i could use the windows operating system.

I can see how that could be awkward!  Sometimes the windows licence key sticker is located underneath the removable battery, so that should allow a fresh format and install of windows (either from DVD media, or a special reserved partition on the hard drive).

My guess is most places wont let you take stuff for fear of identity theft.

Correct.  I've retrieved portable HDDs and laptops with scanned images of their passports, driver's licence, and credit cards.... not to mention pr0n and other highly personal images and documents.

[Njk]

And it is nice to see things actually being recycled instead of just increasing the height of those hills in the land fills.

It was not a big problem back at that time. The factories were not interested in production, so all the goods usually were in short supply. Not a big pleasure for Joe Consumer but on the other hand, if you were a frog, you likely would be interested in keeping those stupid greedy monkey descendants busy with thinking how to destroy each other. Because otherwise they will unite and start thinking how to destroy your swamp.

[SiliconWizard]

here in germany it's real bad.
You are not allowed to take anything
and if you bring to much they even charge you!

Yes, same here. They usually disallow taking anything for alleged security reasons (most of the time). That's something we used to be able to do like 20 years ago, not anymore at all.
Another reason, probably more real is that anything people take is less material they can make money off with recycling, so it's effectively as though they were losing money if you take anything. (Even if not much per item.)

Waste (and especially e-waste) is a big business.

Of course it is. Everything is a big business now anyway.

[magic]

They have never really looked at me the same since i asked them for the password so i could use the windows operating system.

My guess is most places wont let you take stuff for fear of identity theft.

There is a million ways to reset Windows password if the disk isn't encrypted.

As for data leaks being a problem, sure, but it's only an issue with computers, phones and such.


Locally, there is an electronics recycling business which regularly sells the useful stuff they receive on online auctions. Sometimes working, sometimes with cosmetic damage, sometimes in need of repair or for parts. I presume less valuable junk is dismantled. There is a scrap yard which has full containers of cables and trasformers and sometimes some other e-waste, but that's genuine waste - I have never been tempted to buy anything from them

[G0HZU]

In my country (UK) there doesn't appear to be any 'official' way to get hold of E-Waste from the recycling/waste centres for personal use (either that's in working condition or for repair and perhaps even to sell it on once repaired).

What's the situation in your country?

Do the local recycling depots allow people to go through their piles of E-Waste and take (or buy) whatever they like (if it's only a few items)?

Or do they go one step further and have it all laid out so that people can browse what's available and take (or buy) a few items?

Here in the UK things are changing in this respect. Apparently my local recycling centre is closing for renovation next month and when it reopens it will have a 'shop' where useful stuff (that was disposed of by someone) can be purchased by the public.
Obviously, this isn't the same as dumpster diving but at least there is a way to buy stuff.

I'm not sure how well this system will work in practice. I suspect it may only operate for a while before they close the shop. It's a nice concept, but I suspect it could cause too many problems for the recycling centre.