How/where to recycle antistatic ic tubes?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: J7R
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 26, 2017, 02:31:36 pm
content: They all have recyclable #3 PVC markings but we've been unable to find anyone (in Canada) that recycles them. So thousands of them are off to the dump.Anyone have a solution?I thought maybe there's a business opportunity there to ship/sell them back to manufacturers if they're reusable, but who knows.

author: FrankBuss
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 26, 2017, 02:39:11 pm
content: Put it on eBay. Is it for DIP14 etc.? Shipping cost to Germany would be too high, otherwise I would buy some for sorting my parts bin.

author: J7R
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 26, 2017, 02:55:56 pm
content: I always consider shipping from Canada to be prohibitively expensive for low-cost items, but I don't even know what the tubes cost per unit in the first place. Do you?Maybe free+shipping would be a decent price on eBay?

author: FrankBuss
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 26, 2017, 03:34:16 pm
content: Looks like they can be fairly expensive:http://canada.newark.com/multicomp/030-0012/ic-tube-0-6-dip-280mm-pk5/dp/51R7868Just sell them for 1 CAD (use the auction type where you can specify the number of items you want to sell) and with normal shipping cost and I guess you can make quite some money with it. Don't forget to send half the profit to my Paypal account for the tip

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2017, 05:08:15 pm
content: Quote from: FrankBuss on February 26, 2017, 03:34:16 pmAt 1 CAD for a 5 pack you might well get some takers. You might also contact the distributers that deal with small volume purchasers (Digikey, Mouser and others). Based on what they send to me (partial tubes and so on) they must have an ongoing need for the things as they break down the manufacturers shipping arrangement. Might well like the idea of a low cost source. The question would be whether your volume was enough to deal with, though it might trigger some sort of buyback plan from all of their large customers.

author: MarkS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 26, 2017, 07:11:28 pm
content: Sell what you can and keep the rest. They are very useful for storing ICs.

author: calexanian
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2017, 04:45:38 am
content: They make great back scratchers!

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2017, 09:10:26 am
content: You shoudl just put the whole lot on eBay or whatever your local trading site is for $1 must pickup, that way you don't feel bad about throwing them out, and somebody else might want to put in the time to sell or use them, there must be somebody in your area who would want them.If you were in New Zealand, I'd buy them for a buck or twenty (and probably shove them in my garage never to be seen again, but that's nothing unusual).

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2017, 11:42:40 am
content: If you are close to any technical schools/universities with electronic courses, you can just give them to them. They'll make use of them.

author: elecman14
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 27, 2017, 02:20:37 pm
content: A few places I have worked get a gaylord shipping box fill it up and then usually get paid/pay by a recycle company to have it removed. If you are not generating enough tubes to be at that scale it probably is not worth going for that option. When you get to that scale companies seem to become more accommodating to taking boxes of weird items like #3 plastic. They are especially accommodating if you are creating large amounts of scrap ENIG pcbs

author: J7R
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 28, 2017, 02:41:55 am
content: There's an idea. Maybe they're in the same boat but it's worth checking out

author: Mattylad
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2017, 07:40:30 pm
content: Try your local groups of artists, they would be able to do something with them.Have you a Freecycle type reuse group in Canada? contacting them may help you find a new home for them.https://www.freecycle.org/browse/CA