Big Time scrapping computer parts

[Lemon Thrower]

I thought some of you might enjoy this.



[mod edit: fixed the embedded video link]

[Lemon Thrower]

Let me know if any one else saw a zincoln cent in there or if I'm just imagining things

[AdamsSamoa]

That was pretty cool

[TXSTARFIRE]

I like it! It would be interesting to know how those bags came out on the assay. I wonder how much gold is actually in the #1 bag.

[Recyclersteve]

I didn’t watch the whole video, perhaps about the first 10-12 minutes or so.

This looks like a hand made (not mass produced) machine. Were there any specific comments about how much the machine cost and how much they’ve actually gotten over a specific timeframe by using it?

I am somewhat skeptical because I’ve probably been to 6-8 scrap dealers in my area plus a few out of state. The price paid for computer boards (and I’ve had a number of different types in the past 6 years or so) isn’t that great. Also, I’d say the vast majority of scrap dealers don’t even buy the boards at any price.

That alone tells me it is likely quite difficult to recycle them profitably.

I’m guessing the person who made this video might in reality be trying to sell machinery.

Interesting topic!

Any other thoughts out there?

[Recyclersteve]

Oh yeah, I went to a local scrapyard about 3 months ago after calling around for quotes. I was only able to get 25 cents a pound for 12# of computer boards (so $3 total).

Thankfully I had a bunch of other stuff (wire, aluminum cans, etc.) to cash in at the same time.

[Lemon Thrower]

Not sure about the machinery. They guy has a channel where he scraps and does a lot of other stuff. I would expect that shaker table he's got costs a pretty penny and its not for sale.

Finished product - yeah, its sort of useless without knowing the assay results. His no. 1 looks pretty pure, his later bags have some impurities and he's probably letting some gold get away in the waste sludge.

Profitability - I think he is doing this on a toll basis for someone who owns the scrap. He doesn't talk about what he paid for the scrap. Also, he started mostly with partially recovered scrap and put a lot of it through the machine. There is a lot of waste plastic, and most of what he is getting is copper, not gold or silver.

Still, I thought it was interesting.

[MaxGravy]

Here's a fascinating article (with cool pictures) that I stumbled upon earlier today:

‘I spot brand new TVs, here to be shredded’: the truth about our electronic waste

In a giant factory in California, thousands of screens, PCs and other old or unwanted gadgets are picked apart for materials. But what about the billions of other defunct (or not) devices?

In the lobby of Fresno airport is a forest of plastic trees. A bit on the nose, I think: this is central California, home of the grand Sequoia national park. But you can’t put a 3,000-year-old redwood in a planter (not to mention the ceiling clearance issue), so the tourist board has deemed it fit to build these towering, convincing copies. I pull out my phone and take a picture, amused and somewhat appalled. What will live longer, I wonder: the real trees or the fakes?

I haven’t come to Fresno to see the trees; I’ve come about the device on which I took the picture. In a warehouse in the south of the city, green trucks are unloading pallets of old electronics through the doors of Electronics Recyclers International (ERI), the largest electronics recycling company in the US.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (better known by its unfortunate acronym, Weee) is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world. Electronic waste amounted to 53.6m tonnes in 2019, a figure growing at about 2% a year. Consider: in 2021, tech companies sold an estimated 1.43bn smartphones, 341m computers, 210m TVs and 548m pairs of headphones. And that’s ignoring the millions of consoles, sex toys, electric scooters and other battery-powered devices we buy every year. Most are not disposed of but live on in perpetuity, tucked away, forgotten, like the old iPhones and headphones in my kitchen drawer, kept “just in case”. As the head of MusicMagpie, a UK secondhand retail and refurbishing service, tells me: “Our biggest competitor is apathy.”

more...

[Doctor Steuss]

This looks like a hand made (not mass produced) machine.

The machinery is ironically gold prospecting stuff. Primarily a rock crusher, and shaker table.

Were there any specific comments about how much the machine cost [...]

A rock crusher that size runs (depending on brand) between $1,400-$2,000-ish. I'm not sure what brand shaker table that is, but that size they can run from about $5k to upwards of $30k.

You'd probably be able to use a sluice, or better-yet, a gold cube instead of the shaker table. Then you'd only be looking at $100-500-ish for the gold capture end.

[Recyclersteve]

With equipment that expensive, TINY amounts of gold in the boards you recycle, and very little real competition out there, that tells me this is a very specialized area suitable for very few businesses. I’d love to interview someone (or tour a business) who/that can actually do this with a sizable profit.

One angle they might try is this. Process gold as a loss leader to get people to bring their other stuff in. In exchange, pay a bit less for stuff like bare bright copper, aluminum cans, brass, etc.

[Doctor Steuss]

Here's a fascinating article (with cool pictures) that I stumbled upon earlier today:

‘I spot brand new TVs, here to be shredded’: the truth about our electronic waste

Wow, that was a fun (and crazy) read.

Thank you.

[messymessy]

Oh yeah, I went to a local scrapyard about 3 months ago after calling around for quotes. I was only able to get 25 cents a pound for 12# of computer boards (so $3 total).

Thankfully I had a bunch of other stuff (wire, aluminum cans, etc.) to cash in at the same time.

Dr Cadmium is the one to ask about electronic scrap recovery.

Also, there was someone on here a long time ago named Silver Saddle. Lots of experience with E-waste. I believe he wrote some posts about it. How to sort it right and make it worth your time.

Scrap yards that buy E-waste are rare. I think there are only two scrap yards in Ohio that buy E-waste for what it is worth. There are also places that you can ship it to.

[TXSTARFIRE]

Was calling yesterday to local scrap place for prices on copper and lead acid batteries. The charge you 35 cents per lb for electronic scrap.

[Dr. Cadmium]

Dr Cadmium is the one to ask about electronic scrap recovery.

Also, there was someone on here a long time ago named Silver Saddle. Lots of experience with E-waste. I believe he wrote some posts about it. How to sort it right and make it worth your time.

Scrap yards that buy E-waste are rare. I think there are only two scrap yards in Ohio that buy E-waste for what it is worth. There are also places that you can ship it to.

Yes, I am, as I have two decades in the e-scrap industry and I know others who have been in it for longer. I haven't seen silversaddle post here in quite some time.

With equipment that expensive, TINY amounts of gold in the boards you recycle, and very little real competition out there, that tells me this is a very specialized area suitable for very few businesses. I’d love to interview someone (or tour a business) who/that can actually do this with a sizable profit.

One angle they might try is this. Process gold as a loss leader to get people to bring their other stuff in. In exchange, pay a bit less for stuff like bare bright copper, aluminum cans, brass, etc.

Correct. This is an entertaining video but that's why the creator made it: to entertain folks and profit from advertising revenue. Profitable e-waste refiners don't post how-to guides online and even if they did the equipment and financing required are outside the budget of most scrapyards.

I have to say this every time this topic comes up, but true e-waste recovery is done with large batches of material in multi-million dollar facilities. The best approach for individual scrappers and scrapyards is to aggregate material to sell and feed it up the chain.