Regular readers will by now be aware that I recently bought a new PC, and a beauty she is to. Does anyone wonder what happens to old computers though? Has anyone ever thought about how to dispose of their unwanted PC equipment?

A local school came up with a deceptively smart way to get rid of their (very) old computers recently. Let me explain. The plan was to make use of one of the local municipal council’s clean up days, which are held several times a year.

These clean up days are extra rubbish pick ups, separate from the weekly refuse collection service, and gives householders the opportunity to throw out bigger, bulkier, items that cannot be collected by the regular run.

As another clean up day approaches, the local neighbourhood becomes quite a picture. Or should I say, eyesore. The sidewalks become cluttered with old stoves, refrigerators, furniture, TVs, stereos, and any thing else you care to think of.

This ritual gives rise to an interesting phenomenon though. The maxim, “One person’s junk is another person’s treasure” never rings truer than at a time like this. People actually go walking the streets just before a clean up day to see if they can find anything that may be useful, amongst the discarded junk.

So, while the broken washing machine that was left on the street awaiting collection was useless to its previous owner, someone else may see it having some potential value. It could possibly be dismantled and used for spare parts.

And this is where the local councils have it all worked out. A sizable number of the offerings left out for clean up day will be picked up by the scavenging hordes before the council even begins the collection run!

This was obviously the logic the local school had decided to employ when disposing of its old computer equipment. On a Friday afternoon, several weeks ago, they placed perhaps 40 old PCs on the sidewalk outside the school.

A few curious people passing by at the time were already taking an interest, and by the following Saturday afternoon, only half the equipment was left! By the Monday morning, only one or two bits and pieces, that were obviously beyond redemption, remained.

I can’t imagine such a stunt working for me though. The local council litter patrol would most likely descend within seconds of me leaving my old computer equipment outside on the street, and fine me for dumping!

Instead I found a Victorian based company called PC Graveyard, who collect and recycle old computer equipment, and donated it to them. Far better than sending it away to the landfill.