When it finally gets junked a lot of it goes to China for recycling.
Labor is cheap they pretty much ignor things like public/worker safety and protecting the environment.
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Some of it end up at resellers, e.g. company laptops and business computers are frequently found on ebay or directly at the resellers. Got all my Thinkpads and some nice graphics workstations from there. If it cant be sold it usually goes to recycling. Due to the costs here in Germany recycling is often done by NGOs employing handicaped people or trying to get unemployed back to work.
I don´t believe anything survived in Africa, so travelling there to hunt vintage computers will be waste of time and money.

I remember in the 1990-2000 you could find used computers in companies own electronic waste containers but now computers are leased \ loaned 😒 which makes it impossible to find old computers anymore.

Leasing sucks for hunting computer parts.

user33331 wrote:

I remember in the 1990-2000 you could find used computers in companies own electronic waste containers but now computers are leased \ loaned 😒 which makes it impossible to find old computers anymore.

Leasing sucks for hunting computer parts.

We used to be to shop for old PCs at thrift stores, particularly Goodwill here in the US. Then they just stopped showing up for sale. Apparently there's a perception that somehow Goodwill would be legally responsible if somebody donates a computer with their credit card numbers stored on it somewhere.
People who donate stuff apparently can't take their own responsibility, so 2nd hand computers are no longer offered for sale.

The stores could address this if they knew how to properly wipe a hard drive, but they don't want to be bothered and realistically I guess most people wouldn't buy a computer with a blank hard drive.
It would be awesome if there was a Linux distro specifically designed for this. The installer should automatically wipe all drives and then install a working GUI without user intervention. End users would probably find it useful as well, because most people don't really understand how to wipe a drive.

Sometimes when I search ebay, there's some cards labled "정보통신부 EMI" that it was existed in korea but now in US.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/142558728154

Is US lacks these type of cards?

Please don't post eBay links on here since we already had someone got banned, made new accounts, and posted lewd (revenge porn), gruesome content (graphic), and racist things as well (pictures). It's also against the forum rules and regulations set by the admins and moderators of this fine site to post active eBay links. If the person wants to make money, they have to advertise their eBay auctions elsewhere.

user33331 wrote:

Hello
Do all old computers go to Africa today or where do companies take them to ? Like old company laptops and such where do they all go ?

In Finland (and in general EU), no. There are some recycling centers that either sell the working units to customers or sell them for scrap. They'll be stripped of parts and all the harmful chemicals/items are processed and the valuable materials (cases, CPU, wiring) gets melted and resold to other use. I think EU law prevents shipping any electronic waste outside the continent as in Africa it would just end up in a landfill and who knows where. That's why all the electronic stores are made by law to take all the old junk for free and send them for proper disposal.

edit: I do know that some dismanteled computers and parts were sent to Estonia around 8 years ago for recycling, but I'm pretty sure that hasn't been the case for quite some time as they can be processed locally by now.

bjwil1991 wrote:

Please don't post eBay links on here since we already had someone got banned, made new accounts, and posted lewd (revenge porn), gruesome content (graphic), and racist things as well (pictures). It's also against the forum rules and regulations set by the admins and moderators of this fine site to post active eBay links. If the person wants to make money, they have to advertise their eBay auctions elsewhere.

What exact paragraph are we dealing with here, that explicitly prohibit any kind of ebay link?

I am only asking, because I can not find any rule set here on vogons. And if someone say that this is a loosely agreement that people have, then I move for a suggestion on making a set of clear non negotiable rules that every user have to agree to.

If there is no rules like what I described, then there is no specific ban on posting any ebay link. And if this is the case, then I will keep on helping people that are asking about were to buy something specific. As long as people are asking for help out of distress of not being able to find a specific part on their own. As long as the selling/trading is not me selling and as long as any sale does not take place on Vogons. Then I have kept to the only single rule that I can find, wich is that selling and trading directly on Vogons is prohobited.

So yes.... If no specific set of rules, wich are super clear on what to do and not to do here exists. Then I strongly advice all the admins and moderators to sit down and work out a set of rules ASAP.

Easy deal - Africa gets the i7s and in return the west could be swimmig in "vintage" goodies.

Desktop computers are parted out with Motherboards are shredded down and the valuable elements (e.g. gold and copper) extracted. This happens in the source country or in China from what I understand.

CRTs get dismantled usually in the source country and the plastic, glass and metals recycled.

Never heard of anything going to Africa, but that might be just because I live on the West Coast.

I'm also a bit surprised by the question. What made the OP believe that all old computers end up in Africa?
Also, Africa is quite a big continent. You'd have to be more specific.

Believe it or not, but we do actually buy new computers in Africa, we do recycle our paper, plastics and other garbage and, we also have our own E-waste facilities 🤣.

As a matter of fact, I have a local contact at an E-waste facility who's sold me a couple of vintage PC's already.

I've noticed a lot of old computers and components being sold out of Eastern Europe, actually. This is conjecture, but I figure a lot of systems ended up there when they were considered obselete in Western Europe and eventually became too old for any practical use. I remember that we used to talk about messy recycling taking place in Africa but from what I've heard a lot of it is in China and India now. Apparently some of it is done in Palestine as well and the pollution is a serious problem.

"I'm also a bit surprised by the question. What made the OP believe that all old computers end up in Africa?"

In the early 2000 this was a great deal in Europe:
( Some recent news links that I found. Much more on search...)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-30494 … ges-phones.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the … s-a-665061.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature … rica-180957597/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthn … ud-capital.html

brostenen wrote:

What exact paragraph are we dealing with here, that explicitly prohibit any kind of ebay link? […]
Show full quote

What exact paragraph are we dealing with here, that explicitly prohibit any kind of ebay link?

I am only asking, because I can not find any rule set here on vogons. And if someone say that this is a loosely agreement that people have, then I move for a suggestion on making a set of clear non negotiable rules that every user have to agree to.

If there is no rules like what I described, then there is no specific ban on posting any ebay link. And if this is the case, then I will keep on helping people that are asking about were to buy something specific. As long as people are asking for help out of distress of not being able to find a specific part on their own. As long as the selling/trading is not me selling and as long as any sale does not take place on Vogons. Then I have kept to the only single rule that I can find, wich is that selling and trading directly on Vogons is prohobited.

So yes.... If no specific set of rules, wich are super clear on what to do and not to do here exists. Then I strongly advice all the admins and moderators to sit down and work out a set of rules ASAP.

To be fair, the guy in question was benefiting from eBay affiliate referrals, but the simplest way to do as you're suggesting (in terms of helping people) while still avoiding any drama is to PM them buying information if they ask. I think the mods are (probably rightly) reluctant to add a hard rule banning eBay, but everyone's quite cautious after the last episode.

gdjacobs wrote:

brostenen wrote:

What exact paragraph are we dealing with here, that explicitly prohibit any kind of ebay link? […]
Show full quote

What exact paragraph are we dealing with here, that explicitly prohibit any kind of ebay link?

I am only asking, because I can not find any rule set here on vogons. And if someone say that this is a loosely agreement that people have, then I move for a suggestion on making a set of clear non negotiable rules that every user have to agree to.

If there is no rules like what I described, then there is no specific ban on posting any ebay link. And if this is the case, then I will keep on helping people that are asking about were to buy something specific. As long as people are asking for help out of distress of not being able to find a specific part on their own. As long as the selling/trading is not me selling and as long as any sale does not take place on Vogons. Then I have kept to the only single rule that I can find, wich is that selling and trading directly on Vogons is prohobited.

So yes.... If no specific set of rules, wich are super clear on what to do and not to do here exists. Then I strongly advice all the admins and moderators to sit down and work out a set of rules ASAP.

To be fair, the guy in question was benefiting from eBay affiliate referrals, but the simplest way to do as you're suggesting (in terms of helping people) while still avoiding any drama is to PM them buying information if they ask. I think the mods are (probably rightly) reluctant to add a hard rule banning eBay, but everyone's quite cautious after the last episode.

True... I just dont see a reason telling that ebay links as such, are prohibited in any case and with any selling add's, if there in reality is no ban at all. So I am actually asking about admins creating a rule set, in order to make this perfectly clear for everyone. To be honest. I am one of those that want clear and transperant rules, Just as Amibay have rules then why can we not have any?

Personally, I dont care what is prohibited. I am just tired of people spreading info like this. Rules, please!!

Old computers are sent to poor countries all over the world, wherever they can make people work for little enough (or nothing) to make it profitable. You're unlikely to find any sweet deals over there, though, because the whole point of sending them there is for the computers to be dismantled and recycled.

Woolie Wool wrote:

Old computers are sent to poor countries all over the world, wherever they can make people work for little enough (or nothing) to make it profitable. You're unlikely to find any sweet deals over there, though, because the whole point of sending them there is for the computers to be dismantled and recycled.

Dismantling Nigerian child reporting for duty!

I live in Hungary (seems to fit the bill in therms of poor payment) and dismantle old computers and displays. The manner in we have to take them apart is far from professional and it's mostly only separating the major parts and some metal or hazardous pieces like heat sinks, iron cases and CFL tubes. The real recycling is done somewhere else. I know about customers from Ukraine and China but I really don't know how the rest of the life cycle goes in reality. Officially they're professionally recycled but I wouldn't bet my life on it. And materials with no practical value (like mixed dirty plastic) are a pain to get rid of. Often even the Chinese don't want these even though they're magicians both with tech and paperwork...

As for sweet deals of parts, well... we have a small scope, recycling(?) local stuff and it's a poor country so top tier parts are even rarer but nothing's impossible. Only improbable. I know I should make a prosperous business of stolen stuff. I'm just too shy.

Do all old computers go to Africa ?

Only on holiday. Never for buisiness. 🤣 🤣 🤣
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"I had a server farm in Africa."