Recycling old computer parts - Who does this and how/what do you do?

[tankman1989]

I have about 10 old desktops which I am tearing apart and about 5-7 laptops which are going bye-bye. I guess I could try to salvage some of them but I don't know if it is worth it. Most are very old (P1-P3) and very dirty. They thing is that I don't want to have to pay to dispose of them and I dont' want them buried in a landfill nor burnt in an incinerator. This is why I am seperating all the components into various types of material. So far I have:

-Plastic (cases)
-Steel frames/cases/ drive housings,etc
-Aluminum - Heat sinks, hard drive cases, some case housing
-Copper wires, heat sinks, misc pieces, Power wires from any device
-Misc circuit boards (MOBOs, video cards, sound cards, NICS,PSU's, etc)
-Power supplies
-Transformers (from UPS's) (these are the heavy metal "boxes" that have steel wrapped around a large coil of copper wires) usually worth $.20 - $.40 / lb and I average 4-5lbs per UPS. These are in PSU's as well
-CPU's - keep seperate and store
-Ram - Keep seperate and store
-Batteries from UPS's - some are still fine - keep these for replacements. They are mostly lead and can bring in some $$.
-Misc fans
-Anything else I just throw in a misc box.

All of the above can be recycled and it is a MUCH better use than just throwing these things out in land fills or sent to insinurators to create toxic pollution from the metals and chemicals inside.

My only problem so far is that I don't have a good place to dispose of the circuit boards. These could be stuffed in empty cases and taken to the local refuse station which accepts all electronics for free on an individual basis, but I would like to avoid this.

Does anyone else do anything like this? What are your methods and tricks? I'm very interested. Thanks

I'm especially interested if you have a method for removing the copper from the transformers!

Thanks!

 

[JosephLeo]

Well it just so happens that my father owns a recycling business and one of his primary recycling materials are in fact, computers and electronics. I don't know how he makes any money off of them since he doesn't refurbish anything but hey, that's his business.

If you're not going to recover anything from those computers and you're in a reasonably close area to the Jersey shore area (Within a 30 mile radius) I can pick them up for you and give them to him. However, if you're not then you can ship them my way. Granted of course, shipping might not be an economically wise option, especially with something as big as computers.

However, if you don't go with that option then find out where you local recycling center is (The same place that takes batteries, tv's and other hazardous waste). It's free, it's local, and best of all you know it's going to be recycled instead of landfilled.

 

[tankman1989]

Well it just so happens that my father owns a recycling business and one of his primary recycling materials are in fact, computers and electronics. I don't know how he makes any money off of them since he doesn't refurbish anything but hey, that's his business.

If you're not going to recover anything from those computers and you're in a reasonably close area to the Jersey shore area (Within a 30 mile radius) I can pick them up for you and give them to him. However, if you're not then you can ship them my way. Granted of course, shipping might not be an economically wise option, especially with something as big as computers.

However, if you don't go with that option then find out where you local recycling center is (The same place that takes batteries, tv's and other hazardous waste). It's free, it's local, and best of all you know it's going to be recycled instead of landfilled.

I could take a truck load down. could you tell me the name of the business so I can call and set up arrangements to drop it off?