The big compactor massacre

[bgadow]

This Saturday is our local once-a-year "hazmat" collection. I can never make it as there is always another event I go to on that same day. I did go about 5 years ago. They had a roll-off dumpster with the end open. The gentlemen manning it carefully placed all the items inside, stacking them neatly. Nothing was tossed; no damage was being done. I have met the man in charge, and have casually mentioned my interest in old stuff. It is sad to think what might show up.

Then I think back to the early 90s when I cleaned out the shed at my mother's place. I carried several truckloads of old tv sets to the town dump. I thought they would turn me away after awhile but they never did.

[fsjonsey]

Most of that stuff was BPC spare the couple of console TV's and the empty maggie cabinet. Something tells me that guy is a copper scrounger. None of those sets had cords dangling from them.

[matt_s78mn]

Originally Posted by fsjonsey

Most of that stuff was BPC spare the couple of console TV's and the empty maggie cabinet. Something tells me that guy is a copper scrounger. None of those sets had cords dangling from them.

Yea, you'll also notice that the yokes are missing off the CRTs,

[andy]

Here in the SF area, there are lots of places that will take electronics for free. Among them are various surplus stores (which I also shop at frequently) and Goodwill. Goodwill takes any TVs and electronics, even non-working for recycling. I have mixed feelings about it, but I think in the end it's good. Making it harder to get rid of old TVs means that people are more likely to try to sell them, or give them away. Also, since the trash man won't take them, they often sit at the side of the road long enough for someone like me to find them.

Speaking of trash finds, I just rescued a nice Amana Radarange a block away from my apartment. I was driving home and noticed a brown box at the side of the road when I glanced down the street at a stop sign. I thought maybe it would be a radarange, so I went around the block and sure enough it was an RR-9 sitting on its side. It's is very good condition and seems to work fine. Last year I picked up a Sony KV-1311CR TV from the same apartment building. That's really funny because my last apartment had both an RR-9 and a 1311CR in the kitchen. I am very fond of both items which are currently in storage in PA.

I might have to peek in the windows of that apartment to see if my entire PA kitchen is in there...

[Kiwick]

Yet another vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpydH3qMx4o

[similost]

Originally Posted by Kiwick

Yet another vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpydH3qMx4o

hhhm.. you have to wonder what the guy's thrill about the videos is..

[Sandy G]

Here, people load their crap in pickups, haul it to the "collection centers" & toss it...Or if you're lazy, just take it out on a backroad somewhere, & dump it off the side, down in a ditch...Sometimes, the "better" pieces get put aside at the collection centers, but 90% of the time its BPC, or pressboard w/vinyl woodgrain junque...

[NowhereMan 1966]

I wonder if any of that stuff still worked? It is a shame that we are a wasteful society. Makes me feel good that I salvaged a CD player (for a compnent stereo system) that was made in 1984. The reason it was tossed, the CD drawer didn't work, the only thing it needed was a belt to replace the worn one on the pulleys or even a gumband.

[DENNYDOG]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

-Oh, yes, we cannot even throw away fluorescent bulbs or batteries anymore, either-they must be recycled, too.

And that's a bad thing? I think there is enough mercury among other harmful chemicals in our landfills already. People need to get edjumucated on what not to throw away. Example: pretty much any kind of electronics, cell phones, home cordless phones, batteries, the list goes on and on. All items like this need to get the proper recycling so the harmful chemicals don't make their way into our landfills and drinking water supply's. Items that most people don't think twice about throwing in the garbage.

Originally Posted by andy

Speaking of trash finds, I just rescued a nice Amana Radarange a block away from my apartment. I was driving home and noticed a brown box at the side of the road when I glanced down the street at a stop sign. I thought maybe it would be a radarange, so I went around the block and sure enough it was an RR-9 sitting on its side. It's is very good condition and seems to work fine.

Cool. We had a Radarange just like that with the glass tray and everything when I was a kid. I think my parents bought a new one and gave it to my grandparents. They used it for quite a few more years after that.

[ChrisW6ATV]

I am definitely in favor of recycling; it mainly bothered me that this law started without advance coordination with the "trash" companies to provide containers or handling methods for the "new rules" when they started. Instead, now we had/have these items sitting in our houses and we have to figure out what to do with them. I think the trash haulers finally started accepting some or all of these items again, maybe a year or more after the law was put in effect.

[fsjonsey]

Originally Posted by DENNYDOG

And that's a bad thing? I think there is enough mercury among other harmful chemicals in our landfills already. People need to get edjumucated on what not to throw away. Example: pretty much any kind of electronics, cell phones, home cordless phones, batteries, the list goes on and on. All items like this need to get the proper recycling so the harmful chemicals don't make their way into our landfills and drinking water supply's. Items that most people don't think twice about throwing in the garbage.



Cool. We had a Radarange just like that with the glass tray and everything when I was a kid. I think my parents bought a new one and gave it to my grandparents. They used it for quite a few more years after that.

Just wait until they ban Incandescent lightbulbs and the dead, overheated CFL's start to pile up. We've had three CFL's overheat in the past couple of years. The tubes themselves seem to outlast the power supplies.

[Arkay]

Here in Hong Kong, a lot of things get thrown away, but a decent percentage (most) of them get retrieved for resale at the export wholesale market I talk about here sometimes. and/or recycling - the unwanted stuff ends up being stripped apart for recycling at certain villages in China.

Oddly enough, other toxic things like batteries just get thrown into the ordinary household trash. I have heard of schemes for recycling rechargeable-type batteries, but the collection points are too few and hard to find. Regular batteries just get thrown out in the ordinary trash, to pollute the landfill sites. A lot of metal scrap goes through the recycling places, but some still goes into landfill. I think it is all determined by what can make money!

I have heard/read that those recycling-center villages in China are VERY toxic areas, and the poor people who live and work there have high rates of cancer, birth defects and other health problems, due to the local pollution caused by the gear they dismantle. The stuff gets stacked up in big piles outdoors; there is little or no safety gear or protection involved as they dismantle and sort stuff using hands and hand tools. It used to be common for stuff from the US and Europe to be shipped there for recycling, but I think the government has largely stopped that, to lessen the pollution problems (not sure of details on this part).

[DENNYDOG]

Originally Posted by fsjonsey

Just wait until they ban Incandescent lightbulbs and the dead, overheated CFL's start to pile up. We've had three CFL's overheat in the past couple of years. The tubes themselves seem to outlast the power supplies.

I have quite a few CFL's in my house and over the last couple years have had quite a few that last no longer the a standard incandescent bulb. I have reason to believe that after manufacturing and recycling costs they aren't saving anyone any money. It's just too bad that when these go bad they are probably getting thrown directly in the trash. Either people just don't care or they are too ignorant to know any better. And people wonder why the fish we catch in our lakes and ocean are laced with mercury. It's sad because flourescent bulbs have been around for a long time and I know people still smash them and throw them in the garbage when they go bad. You would think people should know they aren't supposed to do this. CFL's are no different. Take your pick, LAZY or IGNORANT. I don't think either is a good excuse.

[fsjonsey]

Originally Posted by DENNYDOG

I have quite a few CFL's in my house and over the last couple years have had quite a few that last no longer the a standard incandescent bulb. I have reason to believe that after manufacturing and recycling costs they aren't saving anyone any money. It's just too bad that when these go bad they are probably getting thrown directly in the trash. Either people just don't care or they are too ignorant to know any better. And people wonder why the fish we catch in our lakes and ocean are laced with mercury. It's sad because flourescent bulbs have been around for a long time and I know people still smash them and throw them in the garbage when they go bad. You would think people should know they aren't supposed to do this. CFL's are no different. Take your pick, LAZY or IGNORANT. I don't think either is a good excuse.

Chinese companies are putting an unauthorized UL label on their cheap CFL lamps and selling them to bottom barrel discount stores, Dollar general, Biglots, etc. Some of these lamps have even been sold to name brands like sylvania, who were not aware of the questionable pedigree. They are known to melt, the thin glass envelopes explode, and have even caught fire.

I noticed that all CFL power supplies have a small iron core choke in them, i wonder if it could be used in homebrew power supplies?

[freakaftr8]

Yeah, ill drink to that! There even stricter up here in Sacramento county! 20 bucks to recycle some POS 1990's 13" tv!!! Criminal!

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

I am jealous of a place where you can still just pile a bunch of stuff at the curb, and the trash truck will take it all away, no limits on what it is or how much. Wow, those were "the good old days", compared to here in California. Let's see:

-We have specific can sizes that we pay to use; a TV set would not even fit in our cans.
-We cannot "throw away" TV sets at all, they must be taken to a recycler and we pay them to take them.
-Once a year, we can schedule a "super" pickup day when they will take one TV, one appliance, one piece of furniture, four tires, and two cubic yards of lawn/yard trimmings.
-Everything else besides the above, we have to bring to the dump ourselves, and pay to get rid of it.
-Oh, yes, we cannot even throw away fluorescent bulbs or batteries anymore, either-they must be recycled, too.