Tech Table
Monday, September 30, 2013
September 30, 2013
Justin: Welcome to MPA’s Tech Table. I’m Justin.
Diana: And I’m Diana.
Justin: And we’re your hosts. We’ll be serving up a heaping spoonful of all things tech.
Diana: We promise it will be easy to digest. Monday!
Justin: It is Monday and we’re having a good start to the week so far here at Tech Table.
Diana: Yes Justin, we are. What do we do on Mondays? Mail?
Justin: That’s right. This is where we look into our inbox and see who has written in. And this week, we have a good question from Rob. Rob is wondering what he should do with his old computer equipment that he no longer wants.
Diana: Oh, that’s a good question.
Justin: Well, it is because computer equipment becomes outdated you know, it used to be 3 to 5 years and now honestly 2 to 3 years is about as long as you can keep most equipment before it becomes outdated.
Diana: Yeah, so once it’s outdated or it doesn’t work or you have some problems with it and just want to move on, what do you do with it?
Justin: Right. And I always feel so bad when people ask me what is my old computer worth? And I literally have to say “Nothing”. It’s really not worth anything unfortunately and that’s why even the computer repair business has changed a lot in the last ten years because the cost of computers is so low that now you might as well just get rid of your old hardware and get new.
Diana: Yeah, which is kind of sad, especially with the sustainability movement, which is a good thing for us to talk about.
Justin: Right, exactly. So we are talking about recycling your old hardware, not just computer equipment, but your old hardware. You can get rid of these things in a safe and good way that’s not going to harm the environment.
Diana: Right, because most electronics contain heavy metals and things that can be harmful to human health and the environment.
Justin: Right, exactly. So most all big trash management companies, whatever you want to call them, garbage management companies, offer a recycling option for old electronics. One of our local companies, there’s a place online you can go and the company is Waste Management that we have locally. They service a huge area I know, so maybe they’re in your area to but you can actually purchase a recycling kit which contains a box designed to hold a specific amount of electronics and the purchase price includes shipping to and from your home.
Diana: Oh, cool!
Justin: So it’s something that you have to buy but it’s a recycling kit. You just go to a web page. Diana, what’s that page?
Diana: It is wmlamptracker.com.
Justin: Right, wmlamptracker.com and you can get that recycling kit. Yeah, and so that’s a good option. The other thing, there are actually recycling companies that do just that for old electronics and I know most major cities have at least one of those companies that will simply take your old equipment at no charge and they’ll recycle it in different ways. That’s much better for the environment than simply tossing it, you know, out in the ditch somewhere.
Diana: Right, however, sometimes you can put it on your curbside with a sign that says free and it is amazing. It will be picked up.
Justin: That is true. People do take things.
Diana: Just make sure that you don’t have anything in the memory on that computer that you don’t want people to see.
Justin: Right and that’s very important too is making sure you’ve removed the hard drive or you know, your computer’s been wiped clean. Which if you take it to MPA, our office, you can bring it to our office and if you buy a new computer with us, we’ll recycle your old computer for free and we’ll wipe all your information off of it and make sure it’s clean so it’s safe to get rid of in that way.
Diana: Very good idea.
Justin: So there’s a lot of ways to get rid of it. You should definitely do that instead of just throwing it out. So until next time…
Diana: Take care.
Justin: Tech Table is brought to you by MPA of Bloomfield, Iowa and God’s Country radio. You can visit us online at AskMPA.com.
Diana: If you have questions or comments, please send them to questions@askmpa.com. That’s questions@askmpa.com
Justin: And thanks for listening!
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