What do you do with all your old but still working devices?
August 23, 2015 4:43 PM Subscribe
We have several laptops and phones and digital cameras around the house. None of them are broken and everyone's got all the devices they need. What do we do with these things?
I feel like throwing them in the bin or recycling them is wasteful when they all still work.
I don't think they would sell or be good to give to charity; batteries are a bit crap, they've all got wear & tear, some of the original chargers are missing etc.
The laptops are all about 5 years old; they're fat, slow and heavy.
The iphone3 only works if it's plugged in the whole time. For a while, we just left it docked and used it for music but that was just us looking for an excuse to use it. We have our current devices set up to stream to different speakers around the house so it wasn't even a good excuse.
We have several cameras we never use now that everyone has a smart phone. One camera is waterproof so I want to keep that one but the rest were middle of the range nothing special cameras. I still have a handheld video camera from 2001, it came with a 128MB SD card and cute little DAT :) It works perfectly but we don't want or need it.
We're not buying this stuff. Most of it has been given to us as gifts or from work.
What else can we do with this stuff?
What have you done with your obsolete machines?
I feel like throwing them in the bin or recycling them is wasteful when they all still work.
I don't think they would sell or be good to give to charity; batteries are a bit crap, they've all got wear & tear, some of the original chargers are missing etc.
The laptops are all about 5 years old; they're fat, slow and heavy.
The iphone3 only works if it's plugged in the whole time. For a while, we just left it docked and used it for music but that was just us looking for an excuse to use it. We have our current devices set up to stream to different speakers around the house so it wasn't even a good excuse.
We have several cameras we never use now that everyone has a smart phone. One camera is waterproof so I want to keep that one but the rest were middle of the range nothing special cameras. I still have a handheld video camera from 2001, it came with a 128MB SD card and cute little DAT :) It works perfectly but we don't want or need it.
We're not buying this stuff. Most of it has been given to us as gifts or from work.
What else can we do with this stuff?
What have you done with your obsolete machines?
I've sold some stuff back to Gazelle.com. They only take a specific list of stuff, but my experience was about as no-hassle as you can get.
posted by brentajones at 4:51 PM on August 23, 2015
posted by brentajones at 4:51 PM on August 23, 2015
Best answer: Pretty much everything has a price. I've sold all of my devices that match this description on eBay. I describe them thoroughly and honestly, pick a price, and if it doesn't sell the first time around I lower the price. There are people who want these older devices for their own reasons. If you're interested enough in getting some pocket change to take the time to list them, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
posted by telegraph at 4:52 PM on August 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by telegraph at 4:52 PM on August 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
Personally, I take them to my town's electronic recycling drop-off so they can be recycled or, if necessary, discarded in an environmentally safe way. I wouldn't just toss them in the garbage. Make sure you wipe all your data off first, too.
I've sold old electronics on eBay before, but for me the small amount of money isn't worth the hassle, and I feel bad selling things that honestly don't work that good anymore.
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:52 PM on August 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
I've sold old electronics on eBay before, but for me the small amount of money isn't worth the hassle, and I feel bad selling things that honestly don't work that good anymore.
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:52 PM on August 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
Freecycle or donate to a charity store
posted by irisclara at 4:56 PM on August 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by irisclara at 4:56 PM on August 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
Best answer: I usually restore them to factory settings and then give them away (coworkers, friends, friends' kids, etc.). Believe me, there are plenty of people that would love to have a middle-range digital camera or a five-year-old laptop, especially when it's free.
posted by box at 4:56 PM on August 23, 2015 [16 favorites]
posted by box at 4:56 PM on August 23, 2015 [16 favorites]
If it comes to recycling, I recently found out that Best Buy will recycle just about anything electronic -- old devices, but also cords, CDs, remotes and other odds and ends.
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:07 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:07 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, if you know people who work at schools or libraries or anyplace where kids hang out, see if they have a use for them. Cameras and video cameras, especially.
But yeah, I think you may just need to get used to the idea that you're going to be contributing to excess waste by replacing old devices. That's just going to happen, because not everything is going to find a new home that wants it. You may be able to outsource throwing them away by giving them to charity, who will throw away what they can't use or sell, but then you're basically making someone else perform the physical and emotional labor of creating trash and feeling sort of guilty about it. If you don't want this to happen, really the only way around it is to use everything until it breaks or falls apart instead of upgrading when something new comes out. That's the price you pay.
posted by decathecting at 5:08 PM on August 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
But yeah, I think you may just need to get used to the idea that you're going to be contributing to excess waste by replacing old devices. That's just going to happen, because not everything is going to find a new home that wants it. You may be able to outsource throwing them away by giving them to charity, who will throw away what they can't use or sell, but then you're basically making someone else perform the physical and emotional labor of creating trash and feeling sort of guilty about it. If you don't want this to happen, really the only way around it is to use everything until it breaks or falls apart instead of upgrading when something new comes out. That's the price you pay.
posted by decathecting at 5:08 PM on August 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
What irisclara said. I've found people on Freecycle who are really happy to get my old but still working electronics and other things that you might be tempted to toss. People who can't afford new stuff, tinkerers, and there's even a guy near me who refurbishes old computers and parts to donate to students in need. I delivered a big haul of ancient technology--much older than your stuff--to his garage workshop a while back.
If any of your old cameras are on this list, you can spiff them up for budding young photographers.
posted by ernielundquist at 5:46 PM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
If any of your old cameras are on this list, you can spiff them up for budding young photographers.
posted by ernielundquist at 5:46 PM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
Search Google for your local hack space. Offer the devices either on their mailing list, or by showing up when the space is open. Someone will want them for an electronics project, even just to salvage a few parts they can reuse.
posted by lollusc at 6:29 PM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by lollusc at 6:29 PM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
Search Google for your local hack space. Offer the devices either on their mailing list, or by showing up when the space is open. Someone will want them for an electronics project, even just to salvage a few parts they can reuse.
Please ask first. I spend a few hours every a week at our hackerspace sorting through "donations" and other leftovers and shuttling them down to the local ecycling center. It's a lot of work.
posted by phooky at 7:01 PM on August 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
Please ask first. I spend a few hours every a week at our hackerspace sorting through "donations" and other leftovers and shuttling them down to the local ecycling center. It's a lot of work.
posted by phooky at 7:01 PM on August 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
For things that aren't good enough to sell to Gazelle or something similar: If the thing works OK, I use freecycle. Just yesterday I freecycled an old film camera and some lenses. If the condition is iffy (or there are any other problems with the thing), I'm careful to describe it accurately.
If no one wants the stuff on freecycle, I just take it to my local electronics recycling place. I'm all for reuse, but not everything is reusable.
posted by jeri at 7:39 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
If no one wants the stuff on freecycle, I just take it to my local electronics recycling place. I'm all for reuse, but not everything is reusable.
posted by jeri at 7:39 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I had a stereo system I hadn't touched in years. It mostly worked. I posted on craigslist it was free to anyone who wanted to come and take it, somebody said he'd come and take it, I left it on my porch, done.
posted by escabeche at 7:51 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by escabeche at 7:51 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If you are into any games that are a life suck, install them on (and only on) a machine you don't use. For instance, I have an ancient laptop that I use only to play the Sims and Rollercoaster Tycoon. Having it separate from my real life (and squirreled away in a hard-to-get-to place) keeps me from wasting 100% of my life. But it's always there if I have a crappy week and feel like sending a car full of hapless passengers careening off the edge of the screen at 80mph.
posted by phunniemee at 7:55 PM on August 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 7:55 PM on August 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
I always keep an old phone and computer tucked away in case something happens to my current devices. I once spilled water all over my laptop during a time when I really needed it, and having my SO's old machine available to use really saved the day. I'm pretty klutzy with my phone and I know that the minute I recycle my old one I'm going to break my new one!
posted by radioamy at 9:55 PM on August 23, 2015
posted by radioamy at 9:55 PM on August 23, 2015
Good lord, don't throw them in the garbage. Someone else could really use it, it's wasteful, and bad for the environment.
Women's shelters are always looking for working phones.
Craigslist can help you get rid of the rest, especially if you don't charge for it.
posted by amy27 at 12:14 AM on August 24, 2015
Women's shelters are always looking for working phones.
Craigslist can help you get rid of the rest, especially if you don't charge for it.
posted by amy27 at 12:14 AM on August 24, 2015
If you put these on the street in a sunny weekend day with a note saying "free and working", or better yet on council pick up day if you still have one, they will be gone before lunch, guaranteed.
posted by smoke at 1:49 AM on August 24, 2015
posted by smoke at 1:49 AM on August 24, 2015
Send them to meeeeee!
posted by wenestvedt at 8:28 AM on August 24, 2015
posted by wenestvedt at 8:28 AM on August 24, 2015
There is a non-profit in my city which takes old electronics (working or not) and either fixes them or cannibalises them for parts, and then sells them cheap to families in need.
You'll have to do a bit of research to find out if there is something like that near you, but an old laptops - even with no functional battery - is still a great thing for a kid who has no other computer, or someone trying to type up resumes and make job applications. A battery-less laptop is like a portable desktop, only taking up less room (which matters when you're poor - you might not have the space for a desktop to be set up, but you can use a laptop plugged in on your kitchen table).
posted by jb at 9:02 AM on August 24, 2015
You'll have to do a bit of research to find out if there is something like that near you, but an old laptops - even with no functional battery - is still a great thing for a kid who has no other computer, or someone trying to type up resumes and make job applications. A battery-less laptop is like a portable desktop, only taking up less room (which matters when you're poor - you might not have the space for a desktop to be set up, but you can use a laptop plugged in on your kitchen table).
posted by jb at 9:02 AM on August 24, 2015
Best answer: If you lived in Portland, I'd be happy to take some. But you don't. :-)
My son came home two days ago ecstatic because he purchased a smart phone for $1 at a garage sale. I thought it was a stupid idea - what good is an old, used phone without a phone plan?
It turns out he was a lot smarter than me. He hooked it up to our wifi and is using free apps to text, Skype, and play games on it. Someone else's trash was his treasure!
posted by tacodave at 4:11 PM on August 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
My son came home two days ago ecstatic because he purchased a smart phone for $1 at a garage sale. I thought it was a stupid idea - what good is an old, used phone without a phone plan?
It turns out he was a lot smarter than me. He hooked it up to our wifi and is using free apps to text, Skype, and play games on it. Someone else's trash was his treasure!
posted by tacodave at 4:11 PM on August 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Where I live there are a couple places that will take all that stuff, repurpose what they can for a charitable purpose like computers for underserved schools, and recycle the rest. Do you have anything like that there?
posted by rhiannonstone at 9:47 PM on August 24, 2015
posted by rhiannonstone at 9:47 PM on August 24, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
iPads and similar, I use around the house (there's an old iPad in the kitchen for recipes and music, etc.).
Everything else, I throw out and I don't give it a second thought. Trying to find a second home for an old desktop that's falling apart (for example) is more trouble than it's worth. I own the device, it doesn't own me.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:51 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]