Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dispose

He left behind medical bills and a very sensible car

*s — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:29:38 -0800

What is a fitting end for a ghost car? My friend died a few years ago without a will, leaving behind a 2001 tan Toyota Camry. Due to the hassle of getting the title (friend had hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills), my friend's wife would prefer to get rid of the car, rather than make it legit. Most people probably do not want to buy a car without a title that has an expired registration and environmental inspection that cannot be renewed.

As a result, my friend's wife wants to do something different with the car. What's something cool she might do with it? The weirder the better.

(We're already considering donating it to NPR, assuming they take cars without proper papers.)

Best way to dispose of a USB flash drive?

brandman — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:22:22 -0800

What's the best way to dispose of a USB flash drive? Having recently upgraded the HDD in my laptop and my flash drive, I wanted to be sure to dispose of both in the safest manner possible. I've decided to have my HDD mechanically shredded (at a cost of about $5), but I'm not sure what to do with my flash drive. I know the "smack it with a hammer" technique is one option available to me, but should I look into others? Is shredding an option, or using some type of software to wipe the drive clean?

how ot dispose a pressurized can

Kevin S — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:25:49 -0800

How to dispose a pressurized can? A closet clean-out revealed a rusty aerosol can of lysol. It still has liquid inside and presumably is under pressure.

Normally, I would deplete the can and stick into the bin for the weekly trip to the town transfer station. But the valve/button is "frozen"; i.e., it doesn't seem to move when depressed & hence there is no obvious way to finish it off.

My concern is that it might injure someone if it "explodes", say when squished by the backloader at the transfer station.

Any ideas?

Help me get rid of a dead PDA w/data

tristeza — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:17:01 -0800

I have an old Palm Tungsten C that I fried when I plugged it in in Kenya with a bad converter. I could never use it again, couldn't even turn it on, ever. I want to dispose of it, but there *was* sensitive data on it before it fried. Can you help me with the a) most enviro-friendly and b) data protective way of disposing of it?

How to I dispose of pigment?

purephase — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 13:45:49 -0800

Help me dispose of pigment! (In the most environmental way possible). I moved into a new apartment a little over a year ago and there was some jars of pigment left behind by the previous tenant. Having had conversations with said tenant prior to moving in I do know that these particular jars were used to print on fabric (t-shirts specifically). Unfortunately, I never got a forwarding address so I have not been able to contact them about this problem.

Not really knowing much about the practise and/or the tools involved, I'm am a little unsure of how to dispose of this stuff properly. I would appreciate any helpful suggestions and advice, I want it out of here! Thanks.

What do I do with my old computer?

MrMoonPie — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:01:57 -0800

I got a new computer. What do I do with my old one? Specs: 733MHz Celeron, 64 MB Sync DRAM, 20 GB hard drive, 48x CD-ROM, 56 k modem, one 3.5 inch disk drive, Windows ME. Kinda virusy and slow.

I’d like to donate it to some worthy cause. I assume it’s good practice to reformat the hard drive, right? Any other advice?