How to dispose of old home electronic items: PCs, fax, VCRs, CDplayers, stereos, TVs

[Umlungu]

Any suggestions how to dispose of the above items in a meaningful way? Any repair places interested in disassembly to retrieve parts or materials? I am a condo resident, so am reluctant to just leave stuff on or near the rubbish bins, but maybe that is the only option.

[CallumWK]

Inquire with your local Amphur or Orbotor, they will direct you to the place that deploys the garbage trucks, and you can bring it there.

I'm in Nongplalai and for me that place is off sukhumvit in North Pattaya, but I don't know if the same company does the collection in your area.

 

Electronics you can bring also to the home for disabled in Soi Yume, which have a repair centre

[soi3eddie]

 

If they are in working order then leave a note on each item (Google trtanslate and print). The items could be very useful for someone - either to use, repair or resell. 

 

I recently, in the UK, wanted to dispose of an old working tower PC and flat screen 24" monitor. I had removed the data drives and re-installed windows 10 on the SSD. It was quite fast and worked great. I drove to my local parade of shops, that has a charity shop and a co-op. I placed the PC system outside the charity shop (which was closed), and went to co-op for some shopping. By the time I exited less than 10 minutes later, all was gone. Hopefully someone is making good use of it.

 

[Regyai]

Why ask? 

Put it by the bins

If it bears a scintilla of value

It's gone in a flash

[billd766]

I have several old laptops, printers, keyboards and stuff like that,  and I would be happy if I could get rid of them.

 

However I live in rural Thailand and I would prefer that they go to the local trash guys. My problem is that they collect the trash around 05:00 dark which is a bit to early for me to get down the drive to make sure that only they get the stuff.

 

There are a very few people who leave donations of their own trash in our bins instead of taking it home to their own bins, and I wouldn't want my electronic trash to be taken by them.

[Umlungu]

4 hours ago, CallumWK said:

Inquire with your local Amphur or Orbotor, they will direct you to the place that deploys the garbage trucks, and you can bring it there.

I'm in Nongplalai and for me that place is off sukhumvit in North Pattaya, but I don't know if the same company does the collection in your area.

 

Electronics you can bring also to the home for disabled in Soi Yume, which have a repair centre

Thanks for your feedback. I will chase up both options.

[Umlungu]

3 hours ago, Regyai said:

Why ask? 

Put it by the bins

If it bears a scintilla of value

It's gone in a flash

Sure. It might be gone in a flash as part of someone's cleaning / rubbish removal tasks. That's the obvious and easiest option. I was thinking more along the lines of fixing, using (some of the stuff remains in working order), but who has any need for a fax these days? In that sense retrieval of any parts or materials would be preferential. 

[scubascuba3]

Father Ray Foundation previously took electrical items

[jacko45k]

Possibly the repair shop in Father Rays.... although not sure what they will do with them after any harvesting. 

[JohnOFphon]

Even if you delete all the files on your hard drive. All, and I mean all deleted files can be restored opened with the right software.

So, if you have photos,,,passwords..bank info....

Remove the hard drive and destroy    or    

[Guderian]

If you've got a Thai friend or partner, just give any old stuff you've got - electrical equipment, clothes, tools, anything really - and they'll find a use for it if there is one. It saves you hoofing about the place, anyway.

[bobandyson]

Donate anything usable to a school. Surely no-one can be more than a stone's throw away from a school.

[anyone]

15 hours ago, Umlungu said:

Sure. It might be gone in a flash as part of someone's cleaning / rubbish removal tasks. That's the obvious and easiest option. I was thinking more along the lines of fixing, using (some of the stuff remains in working order), but who has any need for a fax these days? In that sense retrieval of any parts or materials would be preferential. 

Scavengers rummage through trash and resell the items they find. This is their additional income. I don't mean smelly metal trucks, but trucks with high wooden sides. In my village they are the only ones who collect garbage.

[StandardIssue]

19 hours ago, Regyai said:

Why ask? 

Put it by the bins

If it bears a scintilla of value

It's gone in a flash

Exactly, it will be picked up by the local scrap hounds for sure. I live down the street from a recycle center. There is a constant flow of trucks and carts bring all manner of junk into that place. Just leave it next to the bin outside, someone will be around to collect it and recycle it for you .. unless you live way out in the sticks somewhere.

[bkk6060]

I would never give an old laptop or PC tp anyone.

Get a baseball bat go out to an open field and smash the hell out them them.  It will actually be fun.

If you have a drill, drill holes in the hard drive.  Otherwise, smash the crap out of it with a heavy hammer.

Dispose of the pieces in various places.

[Gottfrid]

15 hours ago, Umlungu said:

Sure. It might be gone in a flash as part of someone's cleaning / rubbish removal tasks. That's the obvious and easiest option. I was thinking more along the lines of fixing, using (some of the stuff remains in working order), but who has any need for a fax these days? In that sense retrieval of any parts or materials would be preferential. 

There is usually always a guy or a woman that walks around collecting this stuff. They usually take out what can be used, separate different part and try sell what can be used.

[johng]

20 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

I would never give an old laptop or PC tp anyone.

Smashing up the whole PC/Laptop is very wasteful  when just removing the hard drive would totally secure any usable information..even then a few formats and  dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sdX  would wipe the disc enough for most  non FBI,CIA,MI5,Mosad agents  in which case smashing the drive to bits ( or smelting it down) is the better option,the rest of the hardware can be re used by someone for something.

[Cardano]

12 hours ago, JohnOFphon said:

Even if you delete all the files on your hard drive. All, and I mean all deleted files can be restored opened with the right software.

So, if you have photos,,,passwords..bank info....

Remove the hard drive and destroy    or    

reformatting the disk will delete everything

[tuktuktuk]

2 hours ago, Cardano said:

reformatting the disk will delete everything

No, it doesn't.  Most of the data can still be recovered.  You need to either rewrite over every sector of the disk or physically destroy it. I always disassemble the drive, remove the disk and fold it in half with the help of a hammer.

 

As far as what to do with surplus equipment, our local fixit shop will take virtually anything.  He has a massive collection of broken fans, washing machines, TV's, phones, computers, you name it.  If you bring in something to be repaired he can usually cannibalize something he's got packed away to find the parts needed.  He works miracles in spite of no formal education.