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I have a person that has a large amount of computers that he might let me have,but he has been asking questions that I really don't have the answer for.
Does anyone here own a scrap yard or could help me answer these questions?

He asked how are the valuable components reclaimed,and where they get reclaimed? He wants to make sure that if he gives this stuff to me that it won't end up in a third world country where it is going to cause harm to the planet,and the people. I have read stories of such things happening,but I usually just sell dead computer boards for the purpose of gold recovery,so I don't think that would happen.

I have told him that I sell this stuff to people that know how to reclaim the valuable components that can be reused in other products,but he seems to want more information.

Most gold recovery is done in Western Europe, the US, Canada or Japan. It's not economical to have third world countries process e-scrap for precious metals - they don't have the technology, equipment, and/or experience.

That said, a lot of the lower quality copper-bearing scrap winds up in China simply because that's the biggest market for copper scrap and labor is cheaper there.

And the electronic re-use market is another area entirely. Our old tech is highly desirable in the developing world, where they're 5-15 years behind.

Tell them you disassemble items yourself and only sell to domestic companies, assuming that's the truth.

As a side note. I think I would want to have a discussion with him about his conviction. True, I believe those people in China/etc have a rough life and ideally no one should have to live like that. But I don't think that the answer is to cut off our e-scrap supplies to them. After all, that is their livelyhood! Does he think he's doing them a favor by removing the one opportunity the have to make money? I know there's a lot of people that feel the way this guy does but if they really want to affect these peoples' lives in a positive way, I would suggest that they should focus their efforts on making the whole system safer, not trying to dismantle the system. Couldn't we spend our efforts on teaching these people simple tips on how to minimize their exposure to the deadly chemicals? Couldn't we provide them with basic things like gloves, boots, hammers, pliers, shears, etc? Or even things like furnaces or wire strippers to minimize the amount of burning done out in the open? IMHO, I think all of these are better options than knee-jerk reactions based on ill-conceived notions.

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anyone else see my point?

creshka46 wrote:As a side note. I think I would want to have a discussion with him about his conviction. True, I believe those people in China/etc have a rough life and ideally no one should have to live like that. But I don't think that the answer is to cut off our e-scrap supplies to them. After all, that is their livelyhood! Does he think he's doing them a favor by removing the one opportunity the have to make money? I know there's a lot of people that feel the way this guy does but if they really want to affect these peoples' lives in a positive way, I would suggest that they should focus their efforts on making the whole system safer, not trying to dismantle the system. Couldn't we spend our efforts on teaching these people simple tips on how to minimize their exposure to the deadly chemicals? Couldn't we provide them with basic things like gloves, boots, hammers, pliers, shears, etc? Or even things like furnaces or wire strippers to minimize the amount of burning done out in the open? IMHO, I think all of these are better options than knee-jerk reactions based on ill-conceived notions.

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anyone else see my point?

They're gonna be screwing us with rare earth material, so it might be a (small) poetic justice.

Just a quick note about sending PCB's to China to refine. In case you did not know, the US government has stopped all shipping of scrap PCB's into China. The reason is because of the lax laws covering how China refines the boards. No need to worry though, as they can still get the PCB's into China via North Korea or North Vietnam. This just goes to show you no matter how hard you try to control where your scrap goes, you can't.

Thank you for all your input. I talked to the guy,and now I just have to wait,and see if he plans on having me pick up his stuff. *fingers crossed*