I don't very often take stuff to the tip/local recycling centre as I try and give away or sell any of my kit that I no longer have use for or need. The only reason I take stuff there is if its really borked or I have a load of old rubbish usually cardboard boxes and the like which are too big for the weekly recycling collection. Today whilst tossing in some very dead power supplies and beyond redemption ATX cases I saw a full Coolermaster Tower case - one of the newer ones too a HAFX I think. Also inside it it looked like it had a high motherboard but I was unsure of the socket. There was neither a mark or dent on this case and it was complete - I did think about just putting it in my car and driving off, but well I though I'd best ask if I could take it - it wasn't even in the skip ! I was told no, whilst they couldn't stop me from taking it because of the CCTV an ANPR cameras they'd be able to track me down and persue me for theft - whilst I did think hmm yeah just do it I didn't fancy being persued for essentially what the local council see as scrap. The mind boggles sometimes as to what gets thrown away too - that case would have been an deal candidate for my main PC or even a NAS server of some kind. I really don't see the harm in taking something that someone has decided they no long want and are bored with things like this just make me mad not only with the plonker that binned it but also the fact that there is no way for people to just take it and make use of it all so the local authority can claim a few extra quid and never actually put back into the local community. Rant over !
It does indeed suck. Our local tip used to divert all potentially still usable items and let you take what you want, albeit you couldn't take lots/everything, and they took your details, basically to discourage people from taking it and selling it on... But then the council changed the contractor for the site, and now you cant even reclaim stuff you've thrown in, even if it is by accident! Luckily not happened to me, but have seen it happen to others.
I scored a i5 rig about 6 months ago but my local tip is fairly small and as it turns out I am fairly swift handed. Would think twice about doing it again in honesty but if they don't see you they won't be checking the cctv will they
You'd have been rather shafted it that was your car keys ! I know its all to do with money but at the end of the day at scrap value they'll be getting sod all.
The guy that runs my local one sorts the good stuff out and sells it he even watches what you have and if it's something he can sell will tell you to take to his hut, I never do though I throw it in the skip lol
Whilst a little off topic I can remember finding all sorts of useful stuff in skips when I was a young singleton many decades ago. My money used to go on booze, birds and fags. So the odd decent bit of furniture or carpet was a real find. Now skips are just full of cr**.
Real shame you can't take stuff, I'm always at my local tip disposing of car oil and parts etc and see a lot of useful stuff but ours now has a container for anything that is ok for re-use so taking stuff out is a no no! Although, been a few times I've pulled up inside and emptied my boot out to get junk out and reloaded it, whats to say I grab something and say it was already mine......hummmmm
I would think it's about litigation mitigation more than anything. I'm sure there is someone out there who would take something from a dump hurt themselves with it and then sue the dump.
I see what your saying there, but with a case unless I was so totally stupid and somehow managed to make the whole chassis live or something I fail to see how anyone would hurt themselves.
Its not really about that though. The whole point of bureaucratic rules is that the people who work under them don't have to exercise independent thought or judgement. Just blindly follow the rules and everything is OK. You'll find this in absolutely every organization that has grown beyond even a small amount of people. The larger to organization the worse it gets. When governments are involved it gets worse again for some reason. I'm not defending it. But that is the, very much unfortunate, reality of the world.
remember its not just computers people take from the tip, imagine if someone nab's some power tools or some such and gets a shock ( pun intended ) when they plug it in, or the switch has somehow got stuck in the 'on' position, it could cause some real harm. but going back to computers one of my earliest computers came out of my local dump, PIIIE rocking a whopping 1Ghz. but imagine the sh*tstorm that would be created if you were to take that computer and find the previous owner hadn't deleted everything ( or as was my case ANYTHING ) you could rather easily gain access to financial records and maybe auto-login bank details ( everyone knows its a bad idea, but those that throw away decent computers are often not the sharpest tools in the box ) Yes officer i threw away my old computer, but someone took it from the recylcing plant and used its details to gain access to my bank details and cleaned me out. i imagine that would be a rather hefty court case for the plant in question. also related. my local dump has stopped people walking onto the site with waste, you now have to turn up in a vehicle, thanks to someone not looking where they are going and getting hit by a car doing an incredible 5 miles an hour ( oh the humanity!!! ) It is a royal PITA as the recycling centre isnt far from where i live, i can see it from my back bedroom and its all downhill. and i used to use a wheelbarrow to move stuff to the site ( and occasionally back as well ) but its ALL change now the electronics are all locked away in a container overnight due to break ins
My local dump opens any black bag waste to check that you're not chucking anything that you should be recycling...
Bureaucracy is a system to ensure a minimum acceptable standard of performance from the lowest common denominator. But yeah, some idiot would take something home from the skip, injure themselves with it (because you found it in a skip wouldn't be enough of a clue) and then sue the council. Idiots are why we can't have nice things.
My local tips household waste recycling centres will sell you stuff, I've not noticed anything electrical, I recently bought some bricks though. The real "fun" starts when you try to use a van.
Our local ones all segregate electrical kit of any sort, I took an old toaster which was scorched up the sides it still had to go to one side because it was electrical. Im pretty sure the staff just skim the good stuff at them anyway.
