"Trash Picking" Computers

ryanch09

So there are a lot of youtube channels (mostly american people) who have a hobby of picking up computers from dump sites or peoples bins and restoring them, kinda got me interested as I love messing with computers especially older ones...

Problem is, is this even legal here in Ireland? I mean like just going to the local recycling centre or something and taking them away..

Also this question looks half mad reading it over but sure it never hurts to ask!

riclad

I think its legal, to take a pc,or monitor, from a skip, if its a road, street,
ie in a public area.as long as you dont need to trespass to get to the skip,
i,m not a lawyer thats just my opinion.IF you are reusing ,whats the harm, it helps the environment.
IF you are looking for old pcs or parts google electronic recyling finglas.they sell old pcs,monitors,
i got p4 1gig ram dell 30 euro, 15inch monitor lcd,20 euro there.
if you want a hd drive its 10 euro,extra, hard drives are not included in pc units.
i just needed the psu and case to fix my friends old dell pc.
i think theres certain people who go round picking up pcs,monitors,tvs. etc in a van in dublin.
i know someone works in a recycling.i got a few cables there for nothing,and a dvdrom drive.
or look on adverts ie free, or pc components for sale.
if a company saw you talking 2 or pcs, that had drives hd inside them,from a skip,they might object to it.
IF there was private data,financial information on the drives for obvious reasons.

yoyo

I reckon you shouldn't be able to just go into a recycling centre and be given old computers for free, data protection laws I imagine would discourage such practice. No harm trying though, I imagine most computers ending up to be recycled are junk/beyond economical repair/missing components etc. Be a hard thing to profit from I'd say.

Nick

ATMAddict

yoyo wrote: »

I reckon you shouldn't be able to just go into a recycling centre and be given old computers for free, data protection laws I imagine would discourage such practice. No harm trying though, I imagine most computers ending up to be recycled are junk/beyond economical repair/missing components etc. Be a hard thing to profit from I'd say.

Nick

This is very true.... I went to my local recycle center and asked them about the removal of old PC hardware for reuse. I was advised by them that once it has been deposited on their premises, it can not be removed. Data protection was mentioned. I thanked them.
The best is to advertise your interest on Adverts looking for FREE or cheap Old PC equipment, you'll be surprised at the replies. I've gotten a few in the past.
If your after something in particular, let me know and I'll keep my eye out for you.I travel around the country and come across lots of stuff No hard drives will be in them.

Regards,
Robert

ryanch09

Thanks for the replies all! I have no idea what they'd say in the recycling centre here in Sligo but no harm in asking, I'll also check out adverts and Finglas recycling! I just like old computers and restoring them, to preserve what is essentially a piece of history Thanks again!

HelpWithIT

The fact is that at my local recycling centre the pavvies wait inside the centre and wait for people to bring computers etc in, they actually go over to people and tell to put it on this table and they bully people into giving them the equipment. When I seen this happening I told the pavvie to **** off and stop harassing people, when he was gone I went over to the Supervisor and he said that they are there all the time and the Guards won't deal with it. If you want to get your hands on a few try ringing around some businesses and ask them have the any that they want to recycle and you might get lucky. I have seen unbelievable waste esp from Gov Depts throwing out perfectly good XP machines and getting them destroyed where they could be wiped and donated to schools who need them! Anyway good luck on your venture (-;

red sean

ryanch09 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies all! I have no idea what they'd say in the recycling centre here in Sligo but no harm in asking, I'll also check out adverts and Finglas recycling! I just like old computers and restoring them, to preserve what is essentially a piece of history Thanks again!

I asked for a particular small appliance in the Sligo depot last week as a similar one I have is broken and parts are obsolete. Was told NO WAY.
There is too much risk attached that it will then be illegally dumped rather than recycled, and everything is being watched on cctv to ensure nobody takes anything out for this reason.
Asked in the office and was told the same!

Overheal

See, our company recycles PCs for free, but in doing so we always hand the customer the Hard Drive and do not add it to the recycling process.

ryanch09

red sean wrote: »

I asked for a particular small appliance in the Sligo depot last week as a similar one I have is broken and parts are obsolete. Was told NO WAY.
There is too much risk attached that it will then be illegally dumped rather than recycled, and everything is being watched on cctv to ensure nobody takes anything out for this reason.
Asked in the office and was told the same!

Guess that's outta the question then! I'll just have to shop round, ask people, thanks for all the replies!

riclad

look on adverts ie, for old tv, pc, whatever you or looking for ,or jumbletown irish freecycle website.OR put up ad , adverts.ie wanted,
Many pcs are sent to recycle centre ,with no hardrive in pc unit.so data security should not be an issue in that case.
it maybe issue, they don,t want people coming in taking
pcs, taking out parts, and then maybe dumping the case unit somewhere
if you drove round dublin you,d see skips full of old pcs, monitors, a few years ago.
it must be a big centre, never saw a recycle centre


with cctv in it before.
i heard podcast on cnet , they bought 100 ramdom, hds on ebay,
found private data on ten per cent of drives , financial data, customer records,
even classified military info .
Many company,s dont bother erasing drives ,or even just break them
before recycling them.

U_Fig

My local recycling centre gave me an old pc when I asked about 2 weeks ago.. They have a policy of recycling hard drives different to other conponents to get around legal issues.. turned out they actually forgot in mine but it was broken so I brought it back .. Now might be because a mate of mine runs it but still he says recycling Is not just disposing of stuff correctly it's letting it be used again.. The pc i got was a beat up core 2 duo with 2gb ram and a gpu that barley plays YouTube HD but its running home server in an educational centre near me just fine at the moment.. I fixed it and donated it when their one broke..

mach1982

RepairMyPC wrote: »

I have seen unbelievable waste esp from Gov Depts throwing out perfectly good XP machines and getting them destroyed where they could be wiped and donated to schools who need them! Anyway good luck on your venture (-;

Happens everywhere , all you need put Linux on a old PC and can bring 10 old PC back to life

U_Fig

mach1982 wrote: »

Happens everywhere , all you need put Linux on a old PC and can bring 10 old PC back to life

DSL will run on anything..