Non-Chemical Non-hazardous "waste" processing?

[chlaurite]

So I've realized, as I work my way toward the back of my garage, that breaking down electronics for the PM-bearing parts produces a heck of a lot of not-quite-waste as a byproduct.

Aluminum and copper at least have enough value to keep them aside until I have a good load for the scrapyard. But what do most folks do with the recyclable-but-barely-worth-the-drive parts? Specifically, I mean steel and mixed unnumbered plastics, which forms the vast majority of most electronics. The plastic I can at least break up easily for storage until I have a good load of it, but the steel... Ugh.

Sheet metal pressed or spot-welded into various case-shapes takes up a huge amount of room (without flattening it), weighs a lot, and barely pays for the gas to take it to the scrapyard. Breaking it down into something reasonably flat and convenient to store takes way too much effort for $0.12/lb (a typical mid-tower PC chassis, completely stripped down to nothing but metal, weighs only 7-8lbs, and takes a good 5-10 minutes to beat into submission with a sledge hammer).

So what do most folk here on the forum do with their low-grade non-garbage waste? Have I missed some obvious way to flatten a PC case that takes under a minute?

 

[glorycloud]

You could call a local scrap buyer and see if they would come to you
to pick up your steel. You won't get 12 cents a pound but you will save on gas
and he might come if you have other things for him to buy at a pre-negotiated price.

I typically wait until I have enough scrap wire, aluminum, and copper before
I head off to the local scrap buyer to sell the steel. That normally makes it
worth it and it cleans out my work area. Some days it's $40, some days $75
and some days over $100.00. It is just an add on to the bottom line for my "hobby".

If I wanted to make a few pennies more I would sell directly to the scrap yard
that my local scrapper sells to but it's a longer drive and probably not worth
it to try and squeeze the last penny from the scrap. 8)

 

[JHS]

If you live in a populated area,put it at the end of your driveway or on the sidewalk.it will soon disapear.

 

[bswartzwelder]

I have collected aluminum cans for what seems like decades. Yesterday, one of my sons posted a message on Facebook that he will soon be making a scrap metal run. Last time, we filled the bed of his truck (it is a short bed 6.75 feet long) even with the top edge of the bed sides. Had to drive slowly as the cans started blowing out. Now, they're in heavy duty bags. I get a little free cleaning, and he gets a little free cash. Works for me.

By the way, we're in Southern Maryland. If anyone else wants to contribute scrap metal, I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

 

[chlaurite]

If you live in a populated area,put it at the end of your driveway or on the sidewalk.it will soon disapear.

Not really a highly populated area, but what you describe works all too well around here... Any metal left out near the curb will most assuredly vanish overnight, but we have a huge problem with "scrap" thieves - A few PC skeletons will vanish, but so will your gutters and pretty much any metal not locked down (and in more than one case, I've heard about them actually taking the lock, too), once they notice you have something.

You could call a local scrap buyer and see if they would come to you to pick up your steel.

Ah, now that sounds like a great idea! I hadn't considered that they might come and get it, instead of me needing to haul it to them. And I don't really care about getting top price for it - I'd just like to get something more than the "free" steel disposal my local transfer station offers (gee, thanks, can you take some of this pesky loose change off my hands too?).

Though that still requires me to store it at least until I get a big enough load to make it worth their time. FWIW, I followed Scott's link to SMF and got some great ideas, but they seem a bit more hard-core than I feel up to (one guy even talked about building his own hydraulic crusher to handle the skeletons of white goods :shock: ).


Thanks, though, good tips all!

 

[joem]

I keep a large bin in my garage, when it's full I take it with me and drop it off for gas money, they also allow me to mix about 15 plastic in with it so nothing I recycle actually goes to my landfill.

 

[yar]

I sometimes trade steel for complete towers. Most scrappers dont want to be bothered tearing apart computers. I have a guy that picks up all my steel once a week and gives me 4-6 towers in return

 

[buddynorville]

I sometimes trade steel for complete towers. Most scrappers dont want to be bothered tearing apart computers. I have a guy that picks up all my steel once a week and gives me 4-6 towers in return

That sounds like a good deal. Where do live?

 

[sharkhook]

JHS must live near me. Here, I can sit one computer frame by the road and it will be gone in less than 30 minutes. I save mine and sell a small quantity as I add the pieces I need to get my new hobby rolling along. Luckily, the scrap yard is on the way to the stores that sell the items I am looking for most of the time. The copper and aluminum, I hold back for larger things. I just dropped off 54 pounds of copper, from computer scraps Friday, and picked up both gas money and some nice glassware.

 

[Pantherlikher]

Lately I've been taking a load a week of what ever I have the most of along with any "crap" metal. Since Christmas is comming, It's been wire from lights I'm not using with bulbs clipped off.
$0.10-$0.12/ lb. Christmans lights but $0.98/ lb insualated wire.
I need to bring back $60 to help make ends meet.
Man are my hands tired from clipping lights.

B.S.