Recycling Electronics

Yeah, I just spent 1.5 hours last night taking apart an old boom box, whose only working part was the radio. The CD player and tape deck died eons ago.

I used the venerable music maker for about 20 years. I was told that it is good feng-shui to replace my broken electronics--so I am.

Yesterday, I even visited my small town's electronics store to ask about e-recycling. The owner told me that they are participating in an event this May to find new life for computers, but not radios. My township and county has no recycling plan for these (Waste Management). :-(

The irony is that I live between two former landfills: a municipal one just a few blocks away, and a larger hill across the big river, where I grew up. The Delaware Pigeon Point landfill is encapsulated now, but in the 1960s, you could smell the rubbish on a hot August day. Pewww!

Back to the good deed, eh?

Using screwdrivers and wire cutters, I pried open the beast to reveal it's guts. Taking only the radio parts for reuse (I might make a custom-boxed radio), I recycled the plastic case and parts (about 2 pounds). These parts won't fill a landfill, as my recycler took them about an hour ago (this AM).

My 5-year old grandson would be less sad that my stereo was not going fully into a 'hole in the ground forever'.

I'm sorry to admit that the other electronic parts are going underground. I could not find a taker. At least I encapsulated them in plastic, so as to not leach into the environment.

It was a lot of work and training that got me to reuse parts. I suppose that it's better than shipping it overseas to go into their landfills. :-)

Maybe I can do better. Maybe my grandson and I will come up with better ways to 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle'.