What happens to the dumpster dive equipment? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: msknight
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2023, 10:34:57 am
content: Just watched the 10 years of dumpster diving and I was wondering what happens to all that equipment. Is it sold, given to good causes... it has to go somewhere or else Dave would have drowned in equipment years ago!

author: .RC.
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2023, 10:48:14 am
content: I think he owns a time and relative dimension in space storage cupboard

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2023, 11:35:26 am
content: My question is, HOW DO YOU FIND THOSE DUMPSTERS? I have never seen equipment like that in a dumpster.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2023, 01:41:56 pm
content: I think it's a dumpster in less than the literal sense.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2023, 02:05:25 pm
content: I can't speak for Dave but I've picked up a LOT of excess equipment over the years and most of what I didn't want to keep ended up on Ebay. That paid for my hobbies and then some. There were a few people that were always looking for things like DEC computer parts and after a while I started selling the DEC stuff directly to them. I never dumpster dived as such but I started searching out companies that got the surplus from the universities, NASA and large USG contractors and I made friends with the owners and they let me go through the stuff that they otherwise would have stripped for the precious metals or just sold as mixed scrap. I bought anything that I was interested in and anything that looked like something that someone else might want.From the looks of most of the electronic stuff on E-Greed I would say that most of it came from Dumpster Divers and they have have no clue what it is.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2023, 02:17:42 pm
content: Quote from: Gyro on May 04, 2023, 01:41:56 pmNot by much. It usually goes into Gaylord containershttps://boxbuddy.co/products/gaylord-boxor large wire basketshttps://rackandshelf.com/product/storage-products/bulk-containers-storage-bins/wire-mesh-containers/40-x-48-x-42-36-useable-large-wire-containers/and the filled ones are sold off to surplus or scrap companies. Most large companies have a department that handles all of their surplus and they just throweverythinginto the containers so you never know what you might find in one.In my experience the only people that throw stuff into dumpsters are people work in labs or offices and are cleaning those out and are not people that normally deal with surplus. So generally justsmallbusinesses.

author: SmallCog
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2023, 01:15:32 am
content: We have an e-waste dumpster at workLots of interesting stuff goes into it for recycling from just our little crew here. There's obviously broken stuff but also surplus lab gear as well as interesting field gear like radios and GPS's etc.I can only imagine that in Dave's circumstance where there's stacks and stacks of tech style businesses sharing the dumpsters there'd be quite a bit of gear goes into there. I know some of our suppliers have addresses in the same business park as Dave is located.My workplace isn't interested in selling an old thing for a few bucks to some random and wearing the potential liability if it's dangerous or faulty. On the same hand staff could be accused of stealing something if they took it and sold it pocketing the cash so the easiest thing to do is write it off and send it for recycling.If it was a privately owned small business then the owner may well sell some stuff second hand and pocket the cash but my site is only a small cog in a large machine and large machines aren't always the most efficient or effective.At least we have a proper bin for e-waste, unlike Dave's dumpster room.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2023, 03:47:10 am
content: I "dumpster dived" two weekends ago. Driving along I saw some hard rubbish outside someone's home on the nature strip. I did a u-turn when I realised there was something possibly valuable in there.It was a thin Sony Bravia 42 inch Smart TV in apparent perfect physical condition. Apparently cost around $1,350 five years ago. I took it home. Re-soldering two dry joints on the LED backlight circuitry and a firmware reset fixed the problem. A new aftermarket remote control from eBay cost $20. The picture and sound are perfect.What happened to it? It is now in the kitchen on the wall.I don't understand why people throw things out without trying to get the fixed first, but I am pretty happy about it.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2023, 09:07:36 am
content: The first flat screen TV my family had was acquired by me from the tip. I then went on to repair hundreds of others as a hobby and side business -- good learning experience!

author: msknight
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2023, 09:48:38 pm
content: So... not much idea on where it actually goes then. Can't see him repair it, or rescue it, just to chuck it out again :-D

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2023, 10:56:00 pm
content: if you watched the video youll know were at least 15 monitors went

author: Faranight
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 06, 2023, 05:48:54 am
content: Dave, I wanna buy this dumpster of yours where all this cool electronics so often miraculously appears inside. It must be some kind of rare and high quality magical dumpster.I wanna place it next to my house, and hopefully I'll also be able to dive inside and find cool stuff from time to time, just like you.

author: msknight
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2023, 05:47:27 am
content: The other question for Dave is whether he's seen a change in the amount of things people are throwing out in the last couple of years due to Covid and the finance crunch... are people still throwing out the same quantity of still working items, or have they slowed down? I have to admit, in retrospect, given the scopes that he scored a few months ago, it seems like things are continuing as they did ten years ago.

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2023, 10:40:07 am
content: a hypothetical Dumpster diving as a e-waste business?to have the hypothetical Dave's e-waste solutions you would need to make generous donations to pay for international shippingand the employment of workers to do the packing before shipping, also the responsible disposal and or recycling any or all unwanted e-waste .

author: factory
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2023, 11:50:21 am
content: Quote from: msknight on May 05, 2023, 09:48:38 pmThe Tek TDS scope ended up on ePay, after the LCD replacement video.David

author: .RC.
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2023, 10:12:36 pm
content: Quote from: msknight on May 07, 2023, 05:47:27 amAustralia is still in general rolling in money at the moment (some people down on their luck are struggling though with the price of things increasing) so I doubt the wasteathon I see in his videos has slowed. I find it mindboggling what these businesses throw away.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2023, 10:58:47 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on May 05, 2023, 03:47:10 amSome apparently do try. I picked an LG 22" monitor from the curb couple days ago. Upon inspection it was clear the owner tried replacing the caps in backlight driver (and they did a very crude job so apparently did not have experience and just watched a few youtube videos) but that did not fix it. I then found one of the CCFL lamps burned. I am now reconfiguring the wiring so 2 lamps out of 4 will be powered, that will fix the monitor. Surely it will not run blasting bright but I run my monitors at 30% brightness max, so 2 lamps will do just fine.

author: Haenk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2023, 09:18:21 am
content: Quote from: Bud on May 07, 2023, 10:58:47 pmIf stuff sits for year, it is often difficult to sell and likely not worth the effort (i.e. labour costs). Plus some liability.I have listed some old computer stuff on ebay and it is selling off, but slowly. Funny enough, it sells for more in used condition than we sold it 10 years ago as new. But considering the costs, it would just be better to throw the stuff away. Which I don't like to do.

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2023, 09:30:46 am
content: My brother is working in a larger hospital and you would not believe what ends up in their e-waste dumpster. It seem money does not matter in a hospital.Every week he is sending me pictures of stuff in their dumpster.And I have gotten some really good gems this way.One could probably make a business out of this one dumpster.