Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

E-waste mining could be big business and good for the planet

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 84 posts

Re: E-waste mining could be big business and good for the planet

#21

Post by gascan »

adrianN wrote: post #19
gascan wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Semiconductors are fairly unique in this regard- power consumption has been going down so quickly for so long, it can often be both uneconomical and environmentally unfriendly to continue to operate older hardware.

I'd like to see a detailed calculation. Teaching sand how to think doesn't sound like an environmentally friendly process.

Embodied environmental impact is a difficult calculation, and nobody ever agrees on a number for any complex product like semiconductors, cars, solar panels. But, if we one day price in all the externalities, we can count on the markets to run the numbers for us.

If anything, electricity production probably has more subsidies & externalities than semiconductor manufacture.

Re: E-waste mining could be big business and good for the planet

#22

Post by guywithaphone »

I've tried both metals, refurbish and parts recycling...

Refurbishing or selling for parts is MUCH more valuable than metals recycling. It's also MUCH MUCH more work.

Three first problem is getting valuable E-waste at a good price. (Free or cheap in large quantities) then comes separating out older parts (higher gold content), then identifying and testing newer parts for refurbishing or parts sales. Then advertising refurb or parts, then the sale, then support for the items you sold.

While there are a LOT of parts in closets, basements or other storage, it is difficult to obtain products that have a high resale value at the right price.

Then factor in that newer computers and phones are getting much faster and/or using less power.

Also, recycling does have risks-- including dust, toxic fires, and safe disposal.

It's not impossible to make money recycling/refurbishing, but it is difficult and usually requires scale.

Re: E-waste mining could be big business and good for the planet

#24

Post by nerdponx »

guywithaphone wrote: post #22

I've tried both metals, refurbish and parts recycling... Refurbishing or selling for parts is MUCH more valuable than metals recycling. It's also MUCH MUCH more work. Three first problem is getting valuable E-waste at a good price. (Free or cheap in large quantities) then comes separating out older parts (higher gold content), then identifying and testing newer parts for refurbishing or parts sales. Then advertising…

Then factor in that newer computers and phones are getting much faster and/or using less power.

This part is hard for me, as a big proponent of "reduce, reuse, recycle." Reduce isn't that hard until your technology becomes obsolete. Reuse is typically impossible because people don't throw out technology until it's obsolete. So recycling is the only option left.

Re: E-waste mining could be big business and good for the planet

#25

Post by lostlogin »

Bucephalus355 wrote: post #14

Literally just met someone for the first time yesterday who is moving to Texas to do this. Apparently, the refresh rate for cloud data centers is now getting down to 2 years or less. Easier to expand by replacing instead of leasing new space. This, combined with how environmentally conscious the big cloud companies are, has led to a big demand in IT Asset Disposal services. Also obviously there are security aspects i…

> moving to Texas to do this.

Why Texas? Are there lots of data centres there? If so, is that an energy cost thing, because it seems a place with greater cooling requirements?

Re: E-waste mining could be big business and good for the planet

#26

Post by rasz »

Bucephalus355 wrote: post #14

Literally just met someone for the first time yesterday who is moving to Texas to do this. Apparently, the refresh rate for cloud data centers is now getting down to 2 years or less. Easier to expand by replacing instead of leasing new space. This, combined with how environmentally conscious the big cloud companies are, has led to a big demand in IT Asset Disposal services. Also obviously there are security aspects i…

This makes zero sense, you can easily resell 2-5 year old server hardware at x10-100 raw material worth.

Re: E-waste mining could be big business and good for the planet

#27

Post by icelancer »

lostlogin wrote: post #25
Bucephalus355 wrote: post #14

Literally just met someone for the first time yesterday who is moving to Texas to do this. Apparently, the refresh rate for cloud data centers is now getting down to 2 years or less. Easier to expand by replacing instead of leasing new space. This, combined with how environmentally conscious the big cloud companies are, has led to a big demand in IT Asset Disposal services. Also obviously there are security aspects i…

> moving to Texas to do this. Why Texas? Are there lots of data centres there? If so, is that an energy cost thing, because it seems a place with greater cooling requirements?

>> Are there lots of data centres there?

Lots of DCs and general IT work available there. Austin is a burgeoning tech city.

Re: E-waste mining could be big business and good for the planet

#29

Post by agumonkey »

guywithaphone wrote: post #22

I've tried both metals, refurbish and parts recycling... Refurbishing or selling for parts is MUCH more valuable than metals recycling. It's also MUCH MUCH more work. Three first problem is getting valuable E-waste at a good price. (Free or cheap in large quantities) then comes separating out older parts (higher gold content), then identifying and testing newer parts for refurbishing or parts sales. Then advertising…

It's quite tempting considering the tons of stuff thrown out.

I think with a small team of quite knowledgeable people you can have different revenue streams

    - stupid repairs (failing buttons, so common)
    - parts (where the team would be here to create test tooling)
    - materials (here you'd need chemistry knowledge)
I'd love that but I admit it's not easy and can be risky (never injured myself more than since I started scavenging parts)

Re: E-waste mining could be big business and good for the planet

#30

Post by ocdtrekkie »

lostlogin wrote: post #25
Bucephalus355 wrote: post #14

Literally just met someone for the first time yesterday who is moving to Texas to do this. Apparently, the refresh rate for cloud data centers is now getting down to 2 years or less. Easier to expand by replacing instead of leasing new space. This, combined with how environmentally conscious the big cloud companies are, has led to a big demand in IT Asset Disposal services. Also obviously there are security aspects i…

> moving to Texas to do this. Why Texas? Are there lots of data centres there? If so, is that an energy cost thing, because it seems a place with greater cooling requirements?

Texas has been big with datacenters for a long time. Apparently some tax exemptions may be involved, as well as good access to a lot of power.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/news/2015/07/10/data-centers...

Post reply on HN