Landfill rejects

[daylatedollarshort]

We take our electronics to Staples for recycling.

[braumeister]

The larger city near me has periodic free turn-in days, but you have to prove you're a resident of that county (I'm not) so it doesn't help me.

But I have found that Staples will take a huge variety of electronics, no questions asked and no charge. Look on their website for the guidelines (only a few items per day, etc.).

[jetpack]

We have a great no questions asked hazardous waste drop off site near me. Most stuff is free. Limits are like 20 TVs a day. Fast too, they unload your car / truck.

[Senator]

We have free disposal for electronics in our County. I also am not opposed to dropping off light bulbs at Home Depot. Often, if a store sells the product, there may be a law they have to take the old disposables. Best Buy takes a bunch of stuff for free too.

Most electronics can be thrown in the trash here, and that's exactly where I put them. The circuit board is a very small piece of most larger electronic items.

I have been known to dismantle things like mattresses and couches and throw them away. Sometimes metal of products can be scrapped and the rest thrown away. Periodically, I have a renter leave a bunch of stuff, and I have to get rid of it.

[mpeirce]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset True compost would generate enough heat to kill the seeds.

Right.

Composed leaves are really good at improving soils. Parts of our backyard had very little topsoil (lots of clay!) and a few years of simply using leaf compost as a mulch has turned the backyard into a gardeners paradise.

I think it looks better than the wood based mulch people tend to use around here, so I use it instead and get the benefit of soil improvement. We buy a truckload of it each spring.

[RetireAge50]

For the computers and tv's it is either smash them into smithereens and put them in the garbage or take to goodwill. Tires let tire shop keep. Paint cans keep stacking up in the back shed.

[Which Roger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by splitwdw I use Best Buys recycling program for TV's, computer equipment. They take all kinds of things. Is there one near you? Electronics and Appliances Recycling at Best Buy

+1 I've recently gotten rid of a couple of old 27" TVs there. Drive up, load it on a cart, roll the cart into the store, and some guy walks over and takes it away.

[Sojourner]

Speaking of recycling old TVs, I've got a 14-year old 60" rear projection unit that I would like to dispose of properly... but it's so heavy and bulky that it's nearly impossible to load into a truck even with the help of someone else. I've been thinking of using some power tools to cut it into smaller pieces which would then be much easier to haul away to the recycling center. I know there are parts inside that contain hazardous chemicals, but if I cut it up carefully I think I can keep those parts intact. Anyone else faced this particular problem, and if so how did you deal with it?

[Dash man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireAge50 For the computers and tv's it is either smash them into smithereens and put them in the garbage or take to goodwill. Tires let tire shop keep. Paint cans keep stacking up in the back shed.

Paint cans of latex paint can be thrown in the trash if you add some cat litter first to soak it up.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

[marko]

One word: "Yardapult"

For those that don't remember (or don't have one) here's the video.
Watch Yard-a-pult From Saturday Night Live - NBC.com

In a variation, my town went to those big covered trash bins; it didn't go well.

They found that older people couldn't wheel them around and instead were dropping off their trash in little bags at McDonald's, the library, gas stations all over town.

[Lcountz]

I had a large brush pile to burn...I poured my leftover paint all over the sticks and stuff, a little at a time, til the cans were empty, then dried them in the sun and put them in the trash. The cans were more than half empty to start with so it diddn't take to long...

I noticed that people drop the old CRT teevees off at the Salvation Army drop boxes, in spite of the the signs saying nothing to be left outside the box. I was dropping clothes off one day while the SA truck was picking up stuff, they just loaded the TeeVees into the truck so they must have a place to get rid of them, or, if they still work, I guess people will make use of them....

For old electronic equipment....take it out in the yard, cover it with thick tarp and smash it up into pieces, then put it into the garbage. Same with CRT's...cover with a heavy tarp, shoot the screen, break it up into pieces and get rid of it in the garbage.

Shouldn't have to be so difficult. I have no idea what I'll do with my projection TeeVee when it goes. No one will take it. I suppose it's gonna get shot and whacked too, if I can figure out a way to get it out into the yard.

[Fermion]

It is VERY shortsighted of the local governments to refuse these items. They will end up back in the woods somewhere and cost 10x the money to clean up after they leak into the ground.

But hey, who said local governments are smart?

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion It is VERY shortsighted of the local governments to refuse these items. They will end up back in the woods somewhere and cost 10x the money to clean up after they leak into the ground.

You mean like this?

1461777694632.jpg

[Fermion]

Or this:

[bld999]

A quick thought about radioactive materials in smoke detectors ended like this: " we must live in their presence forever, but can't bury them in the garbage" .

That thought set my meter off. I came across this:

"The radiation dose to the occupants of a house from a domestic smoke detector is essentially zero, and in any case very much less than that from natural background radiation. The alpha particles are absorbed within the detector, while most of the gamma rays escape harmlessly. The small amount of radioactive material that is used in these detectors is not a health hazard and individual units can be disposed of in normal household waste"

Smoke Detectors and Americium - World Nuclear Association

[Amethyst]

Our landfill still accepts electronics on Saturdays.

Our problem is that we no longer have a truck, nor could we lift the old TVs into it, if we did have one. We're just not as strong as we used to be, and those old TVs are monsters.

Only solution is to hire someone to take them away.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bld999 A quick thought about radioactive materials in smoke detectors ended like this: " we must live in their presence forever, but can't bury them in the garbage" . That thought set my meter off. I came across this: "The radiation dose to the occupants of a house from a domestic smoke detector is essentially zero, and in any case very much less than that from natural background radiation. The alpha particles are absorbed within the detector, while most of the gamma rays escape harmlessly. The small amount of radioactive material that is used in these detectors is not a health hazard and individual units can be disposed of in normal household waste" Smoke Detectors and Americium - World Nuclear Association

It seems reasonable to me that they go in the trash (after all, we have several of them in our homes, 24/7), but I'm pretty sure local laws say no can do.

It's pretty likely that after one more attempt, they will somehow find their way into the trash, like by accident of course. I do try to be responsible, and try to follow the letter of the law for these things, but I have my limits.

-ERD50

[bld999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 It seems reasonable to me that they go in the trash (after all, we have several of them in our homes, 24/7), but I'm pretty sure local laws say no can do. It's pretty likely that after one more attempt, they will somehow find their way into the trash, like by accident of course. I do try to be responsible, and try to follow the letter of the law for these things, but I have my limits. -ERD50

Being responsible is the thing, in this case to me, this means teasing out the real level of risk at the regulatory [municipal disposal] level and behaving accordingly. I'm not a nuclear guy, maybe I'm missing something important, but this disposal prohibition sounds like something cooked up by Homer Simpson.

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imoldernu I remember a thread about this, a year or two ago, but can't find it. Anyway... the problem is getting rid of items that the landfill no longer accept, where breaking the law is punishable with large fines. No answers from local government. The few times our town tried an amnesty program, the lines of cars and trucks were so long they created a traffic jams. There have to be hundreds of millions of TV's, computers and other electronics and appliances tucked away in sheds, garages and storage facilities. How does your town handle this? Disposal fees, as with vehicle tires? Nearest listed electronics disposal facility is 100 mile away. Any suggestions?

For me a 100 mile trip, while annoying, wouldn't be that big a deal. I'd load all my crap up, head off, and get rid of it. The gas would probably be cheaper than a disposal fee (assuming there wasn't one of those too), and a road trip is always fun.

That's on a personal level, for getting rid of your own stuff. On a widespread local level, since the municipality isn't supplying a solution, I'd advise the citizenry to drop their stuff off in the city hall parking lot. I'd start with the mayor's parking space.

[Walt34]

Here the County does have an electronics recycling drop off point but it is at the extreme south end of the county so for that stuff we drop off at the much closer Goodwill or Best Buy. Batteries I drop off at a nearby Battery Mart store, they even give me $1 for a UPS battery and $2 for a lawn mower battery core. I was surprised the UPS battery was worth anything at all, I sure didn't expect anything.

This is one of the "wealthier" counties in WV so I doubt that all places in WV have those resources available.