I heard you are not suppose to throw away old computers because it is bad for the environment. And the people who pick up the trash wont even take them. How are you suppose to get rid of them? Do you have to find a place to recycle them and how would I find somewhere close to me?

well if its still a good computer give it away! there are so many who do not have one at home and have to use one at work or do not have access at all to a computer. donate it, but if its good bless some one with it :)

Wrap it in a couple of black Hefty bags and then place it in the trash. This way the garbage collectors won't notice you're throwing away a computer.

That's what I do with all the bodies, and I've never been caught yet.

;)

well if its still a good computer give it away! there are so many who do not have one at home and have to use one at work or do not have access at all to a computer. donate it, but if its good bless some one with it :)
We have actually given two away so far. But we have two others that are so old you wouldn't believe it.

Dell will also recycle computers for you, 50 lbs for $10. Not too bad, if you don't have anyone to donate to.

More info here:

http://www.dell.com/recycle

I have always been afraid to give away old computers because of all the proprietary information still left on the hard drive. Is there any way to clean the hard drive completely so that the computer is still useable by someone else but private info can not be retreived?


-Shayne-
.....who has 4 CPU's, 3 monitors, 5 keyboards and 3 mouses in her garage.

Most city dumps will recycle your old computer for little or no money except for the monitors. Monitors/TV's are a pain to get rid of, our local landfill charges $.50/pound to dump a TV, which is crazy. Computer boards contain lead, so it's a good idea to take them to a qualified recycler.

As for hard drives, supposedly there are ways to get all of your information off of them. Personally I don't trust any of them. A while back I took a client's hard drive to a disk recovery service. It was amazing how much data they could recover from that HDD that wasn't overtly on it. I never throw or give away my old hard drives. When it's time to finally dispose of them, I plan to do it the military way: melt 'em down!

I never throw or give away my old hard drives. When it's time to finally dispose of them, I plan to do it the military way: melt 'em down!
Wow - you must have some pretty darn interesting stuff on your HD. :eek:

Wow - you must have some pretty darn interesting stuff on your HD. :eek:

Yeah, if you like reading Quicken ledgers and Palm PDA entries. None of which I'd like anyone else to see.

All my porn is encrypted, so that's not a problem. ;)