5 ms·

Only a couple of months back I saw what seemed to be perfectly good solar panels (I'd estimate an 8kw system) having a backhoe rip through them (and the roof th

by 22c 5y ago

Only a couple of months back I saw what seemed to be perfectly good solar panels (I'd estimate an 8kw system) having a backhoe rip through them (and the roof they were attached to) to make way for a future apartment block. I'm sure someone would've been willing to salvage those at no cost to the developers, but time is money to those guys. Sad to see such waste.

exporectomy 5y ago
Delays in construction are also waste but not so visceral or visible. It might have turned out that it was cheaper to destroy them than have them salvaged, including the labor cost of managing the salvage.
- hellbannedguy 5y ago
  "free solar panels on CraigsList. Must be gone in 1.5 days. Must sign a liability waiver before removing--via email." Gone.
  - xxs 5y ago
    Hard (or impossible) to that as company... way way more paperwork.
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    That requires someone to put in a conscious effort to manage and people are lazy when it's not their money. Also (thanks in large part to internet commenters, many of whom on HN fit this archetype) people are afraid that a liability waver doesn't cover them when in reality unless there are aggravating circumstances a liability waver pretty much always caps your loss at the consult fee required to get your lawyer to tell the ambulance chaser to f off.
- forsakenharmony 5y ago
  I feel like there should be laws preventing anyone from destroying something someone else could use We can't just throw everything away, no matter if it's cheaper, we will run out of resources if we don't recycle
  - Kalium 5y ago
    What was the last thing you threw away that couldn't be used by someone else? Anyone at all?
  - exporectomy 5y ago
    Recycling can only slow the loss of raw materials, not prevent it. So we'll either run out eventually anyway or we won't run out anyway. Your argument doesn't work.
Kalium 5y ago
In the Bay, I more than once saw developers spend months trying to get people to salvage old houses whole. Surely there was someone who would take them! How hard could it be? Each time they wound up bulldozing them after zero takers were found. Could they have tried to get rid of them piecemeal, as people came to salvage one useful thing at a time? Definitely possible! Though it likely would have meant managing a bunch of different people looking for specific things, after which they would have had to spend just as much time and money bulldozing the things anyway.

by 22c 5y ago

exporectomy 5y ago

Delays in construction are also waste but not so visceral or visible. It might have turned out that it was cheaper to destroy them than have them salvaged, including the labor cost of managing the salvage.

hellbannedguy 5y ago
"free solar panels on CraigsList. Must be gone in 1.5 days. Must sign a liability waiver before removing--via email." Gone.
- xxs 5y ago
  Hard (or impossible) to that as company... way way more paperwork.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  That requires someone to put in a conscious effort to manage and people are lazy when it's not their money. Also (thanks in large part to internet commenters, many of whom on HN fit this archetype) people are afraid that a liability waver doesn't cover them when in reality unless there are aggravating circumstances a liability waver pretty much always caps your loss at the consult fee required to get your lawyer to tell the ambulance chaser to f off.
forsakenharmony 5y ago
I feel like there should be laws preventing anyone from destroying something someone else could use We can't just throw everything away, no matter if it's cheaper, we will run out of resources if we don't recycle
- Kalium 5y ago
  What was the last thing you threw away that couldn't be used by someone else? Anyone at all?
- exporectomy 5y ago
  Recycling can only slow the loss of raw materials, not prevent it. So we'll either run out eventually anyway or we won't run out anyway. Your argument doesn't work.

Kalium 5y ago

In the Bay, I more than once saw developers spend months trying to get people to salvage old houses whole. Surely there was someone who would take them! How hard could it be? Each time they wound up bulldozing them after zero takers were found. Could they have tried to get rid of them piecemeal, as people came to salvage one useful thing at a time? Definitely possible! Though it likely would have meant managing a bunch of different people looking for specific things, after which they would have had to spend just as much time and money bulldozing the things anyway.