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The actual story was sourced entirely from this reddit post: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rilcj/as_a_person_who_did_not_invest_early_i_made_a_gif/

by buro9 13y ago

The actual story was sourced entirely from this reddit post: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rilcj/as_a_person_who_did_not_invest_early_i_made_a_gif/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rilcj/as_a_person_... Which was sourced entirely from "someone in the IRC channel". Whether it's true or not is one thing, but if it is then the reddit source also says: > He went to the "recycling centre" and they showed him around. This makes some sense, I've 'recycled' before at places like this: http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/spacewaye http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/spacewaye You go along, separate your stuff into several different piles. Pay fees for things like fridges, CRTs, etc. Then you leave. The thing is... I don't actually believe that electrical equipment is really recycled. Stuff like monitors may have the most toxic bits removed, but I strongly suspect that all other electrical equipment is just put into landfill as-is. If the story is all true then the facility in question is this one: http://www.newport.gov.uk/_dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=wasterecycle.centres http://www.newport.gov.uk/_dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=wasterecy... Which is advertised as a recycling centre. Which means the guy has done all that he could to get it recycled, and that it's the authorities and government services themselves who are just dumping stuff in landfill even when it was delivered as recycling. All that said... if it was recycled as advertised, then the chances of it still existing would be closer to zero than the current scenario.

akkartik 13y ago
Good points, thanks. That'll teach me to get worked up without looking at the sources.
kaffeinecoma 13y ago
The thing is... I don't actually believe that electrical equipment is really recycled I had something similar happen when I went to my local recycling center a year after moving into a new town. I had carefully squirreled away a pile of batteries (AA, AAA, D-cells, etc), old smoke detectors (which contain trace amounts of radioactive elements), and some unused cans of latex paint. Saved it all for the big trip to the recycling center. The guy told me that they'd accept it all, but next time I might as well toss everything but the paint into the trash, as that's what they were going to do with it. Pretty disappointing.
- InclinedPlane 13y ago
  Smoke detectors should be properly disposed of but alkaline batteries can be thrown away. Long ago ordinary batteries used to contain some amount of hazardous heavy metals but that's no longer the case.

by buro9 13y ago

akkartik 13y ago

Good points, thanks. That'll teach me to get worked up without looking at the sources.

kaffeinecoma 13y ago

The thing is... I don't actually believe that electrical equipment is really recycled I had something similar happen when I went to my local recycling center a year after moving into a new town. I had carefully squirreled away a pile of batteries (AA, AAA, D-cells, etc), old smoke detectors (which contain trace amounts of radioactive elements), and some unused cans of latex paint. Saved it all for the big trip to the recycling center. The guy told me that they'd accept it all, but next time I might as well toss everything but the paint into the trash, as that's what they were going to do with it. Pretty disappointing.

InclinedPlane 13y ago
Smoke detectors should be properly disposed of but alkaline batteries can be thrown away. Long ago ordinary batteries used to contain some amount of hazardous heavy metals but that's no longer the case.