# Left over materials?



## lazersteve (Mar 1, 2007)

I've accumlated quite a bit of left over plastics and fiber glass boards from fingers and connector housings. I'm sure you guys have a problem with these leftovers as well. I've been saving mine but they are starting to take up too much valuable space. Does anyone know if they are worth anything to anyone or just plain garbage? If they are sellable then where and what is it worth?


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## Noxx (Mar 1, 2007)

I nerver heard about people taking them back for recycling. But maybe someone could use them for a project ?


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## ThePierCer (Mar 13, 2007)

i don't know about you guys, but i own a recycling company. Gold is just me little fetish..lol. Around here, junk cars go for $100 per ton (hence all the adds for "we buy junk cars" you see everywhere) so i take all my left over scrap and fill these cars with it. I do 2-3 cars a week. All u have to do is take one car, even if you have to sit on it for a while, and fill it with all your left over scrap. Then rent a UHaul and deliver it to the scrap yard. I usually avarage 3-4 tons per load, or $300-400. Otherwise, it's worth about $80 per ton...... and who of us has a ton of computer scrap? 

Loading a junk car with it is by far the most cost effective and profitable way of getting rid of it.b


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## socorban (Mar 13, 2007)

Is that legal?


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## ThePierCer (Mar 13, 2007)

It's classified as "mixed scrap" and I have been doing it for about a year now. The owners if the scrap yards know me buy now and have never said anything. The cars get chushed and shipped to refinery's, and they get paid per ton also, so I don't think they really care either. The only thing they have ever made me take out of the vehicles was tires. Monitors are a no-no too, but they have always taken general scrap.


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## Noxx (Mar 13, 2007)

Lol you filled the car with tires ? :lol:


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## ThePierCer (Mar 13, 2007)

lol.... can't blame a guy for trying.


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## Fever (Apr 4, 2007)

lazersteve said:


> I've accumlated quite a bit of left over plastics and fiber glass boards from fingers and connector housings. I'm sure you guys have a problem with these leftovers as well. I've been saving mine but they are starting to take up too much valuable space. Does anyone know if they are worth anything to anyone or just plain garbage? If they are sellable then where and what is it worth?



I've been told that copper refiners will buy scrap circuit boards for the copper races they contain, but supposedly, you need to compress a huge quantity of them into a brick, or palletize/containerize them somehow to get their interest. As far as getting rid of them, most scrap yards will take them as electronic scrap, no charge, but no payout either.

Most of the plastics associated with the reverse engineering of PC's can be sold to plastics recyclers. Check out this link for specifics on this option:
http://www.mbapolymers.com/contact.htm

You'd be surprised what they can do in the recycling world these days....

Fever


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## lazersteve (Apr 4, 2007)

Fever,

Thanks for the great link! I'll drop them a line and see what they pay.


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## fixinator (Apr 11, 2007)

I've been searching for a plastic recycler in Michigan or Northern Indiana to take my plastic. The recyclers near me want no less than a semi load and want it sorted and completely clean (no mixing of plastics, no metal). They did tell me that ABS is .10 per pound. I just don't have the room to store that much and it would take almost a year to accumulate it.
As far as the circuit boards, processors and all the other parts, I found buyers for all that.

Fix


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## Fever (Apr 11, 2007)

Hey fixinator-

Can you please share your contacts for the circuit board recyclers? Is it a national company, or local to MI?

You're right about the hassles with recycling the plastics. For some reason, companies only want to deal in mass quantity, which for us small lever recylers/scrappers, is very hard to accomodate.

Fever


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## daveerf (Apr 15, 2007)

Heya Steve and anyone else, here's a link below to a small processor of unpopulated circuit boards, circuit board trim and even solder or solder dross. They process the unpopulated boards for the copper, the tin and lead. If you have any residual silver and gold on the boards , they reclaim that too. (However, I'm sure the precious metals must exceed a minimum amount before being included in payment)
I haven't dealt with them yet but I like that they are a small company versus a large refinery. They also process lots individually instead of mixing with other lots. If anyone tries them please let me know how they treated you, thanks.

http://www.metallicresources.com/rc2.htm


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## Charlena (Jun 8, 2007)

I have for many years now been doing research into what I would need to do to put my dream into reality of building the perfect "All in one" recycling center here in So Cali where I live.

The issue of there not being any one place that takes ALL scrap and is easy to work with, IMHO is exactly why people shy off from being environmentally conscious and our planet is suffering so. Sure there are allot of factors but id lay odds on the fact that if there was 1 large location with only receiving and sorting and transferring capabilities in every big city across the nation...they would see HUGE improvements in the return on all items that are recyclable...that coupled with a dedicated educational campaign to be sure that everyone at least gets to know how, what, and why to recycle.
I talk to people all the time that would do their part in a heartbeat to be enviro-friendly if it weren’t such a DAUNTING task. CRV (oh and just have to make note here for us old school recyclers from Cali…that is California REDEMPTION value not California Recycle or Refund Value or what ever they are trying to call it in those commercials these days.! LOL) to one place, Metals to another and all other stuff requires a semi truckload in order to be accepted practically? Common what are they thinking?
Whew ok Char breathe....

Anywho...Sorry about the tangent...I’m a passionate eco nut!

Here is one place I find useful but haven't found anyone who does small amounts yet either
http://www.recycle.net/recycle/Plastic/
Thanks for waking me up Steve! I needed a good rush!


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## lmills148 (Jun 8, 2007)

I 've heard of recycled fibreglass used as an additive to strengthen concrete. If that helps.


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## lazersteve (Jun 9, 2007)

All,

Thanks for all the great input. The waste stream handling problems with recycling is a critical area to solve for a completely efficient process.

Steve


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