zerowaste

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21474632

All my local junkyards accept e-waste but they bounce anyone who shows up with a screwdriver. Once a machine is dumped, it becomes the property of the junkyard who sees repairers who remove stuff as a threat to their bottom line, which comes from the melt value of the metals. I cannot even pay for the parts even if I wanted. I have been kicked out of junkyards enough times that the whole staff recognises me now. It’s really fucked up that the shitty melt value of the metals is prioritised above consumers will to repair.

The disposal chain goes like this:

1. consumer dumps appliance waste (sometimes straight to the dump, sometimes to an org in step 2)
2. some org that decides if the thing is broken or not
3. if it works → goes to a charity to resell
4. if reparable → goes to a charity to fix and resell
5. if “non-repairable” → broken down for proper disposal

That last step uses scare quotes because they are piled under such an unsurmountable stock pile of disposed appliances that only trivially repairable things get repaired. Countless things that are either repairable or good for parts get destroyed. I suspect there is a blanket assumption that inkjet printers are never regarded as repairable.

The idea of repurposing is completely absent from this process. E.g. they would never remove a broken LCD panel from a flat screen device and use it to make a lightbox / table for a stained glass artist or photographer who looks at slides.

Step 5 needs a mod. Everything not put through the charity should go to a weather-protected staging area where the general public can walk through and take what they want. Every item should be there for at least a week or two before breakdown.

Freeloaders might use such a mechanism to grab things with a high melt value. But I’m not sure a petition to the city needs to address that -- it’s the city’s problem to solve.