We’ve already got an ewaste pc set up for checking mice and keyboards and printers, I’ll see if I can find one of these on eBay. At the very least it’ll probably be useful to me.

Is there a project to send these codes to if we start recording them?

We’re an all-volunteer operation with basically no budget but recording that stuff could be doable eventually, if we had somewhere to send the info. Is there an IR receiver or something we’d need? Right now we’re a bit too busy just sorting ewaste, testing devices, and scrubbing the grunge off them.

I appreciate this write-up - you’ve done a good job of identifying the problem and I’d very much support the policy solution you’ve come up with. The electronics section of the swap shop I help with has a filing cabinet full of ziplocks of old remote controls that come in (tested with a camera to see if the IR light comes on, and sorted by brand). It’s a kinda brute-force solution dependant on having a bunch of space and a steady flow of ewaste but we’ve been able to pair a lot of TVs with their missing remotes (and hand remotes out to people who need a replacement). I think it’s one of those things that becomes somewhat practical at the community scale. If a city of hundreds of thousands has a filing cabinet of old remotes that’s not that bad. If I have a filing cabinet of old remotes I’m a hoarder. It still doesn’t really answer the weird one-offs and no-nanes very well, though we’ve had a couple one-in-a-million matchups

Edit: I’d also favor requiring the device have some way to do every feature without the remote.

I think I’d heard of this previously but I might actually have access to a supported device now! I’ll have to try it out.

I’d love to see more apps and especially replacement ROMs that let you use phones for a simpler task. Replacement OSs appeal to me because they could scale back the device’s capabilities, which could reduce its attack surface (a good thing if the manufacturer has dropped security updates).

We had a kitchen scale with a damaged control panel - the on/off button stopped working. I opened it up, cut one of the battery wires, and soldered in a switch. Cut a hole in the case with an xacto knife, glued the switch through it and put it all back together. Now it has a hardware power switch. If you’re comfortable with basic soldering, maybe that would work for you?

If it works I’ll definitely post a step-by-step writeup here in the zerowaste community, and I’ll link from this comment if I remember!

This is really cool! I’ll do some more reading and tests first but this might be what I go with for an answer. If it’s as effective and non-oily as he says, it sounds perfect. Plus the fact that it’s just wax and oil and can be remelted if it scrapes or leaks, makes it sound pretty fixable long term.

Edit: also I don’t usually watch nonfiction YouTube stuff but I think I’m going to check out the rest of his content, thanks!

Probably though I hate to throw something away just because the outer layer is failing. I guess that’s why I wore this one till it got like this. I’d like a leather jacket if it fit like this one (and if I got it second hand, I wouldn’t be good with buying one new). Someone gave me one once but it fit me like a tent so I had to pass it along.

That’s a really cool idea! Tbh when I asked the question I’d been thinking of the old ‘oilskins’ used by sailors in fantasy books (and history) which I think were sailcloth or canvas coated in tar, so this would actually be pretty close to what I had in mind.

I’ve found working/fixable laptops, laptop chargers, cables, TVs, monitors, and space heaters to be the easiest things to give away again once I pull them from a dumpster.

Cables and converters and little USB devices like hubs are also pretty easy. Lamps and power strips/extension cords too.

I’ve only done a few desktops, they went but I don’t know if there’s the same demand.

RAM and hard drives go a long way towards making the task of fixing laptops easier/cheaper since people often pull those parts before binning them. The time I found a stack of wiped laptop hard drives enabled a ton of free computer rehabs.

As others said, you may need to feel out whether people are going to use your bins as a way to dispose of damaged things they normally have to pay a fine to throw away - my local Free Group recently had a problem with people ‘offering up’ broken CRT TVs, air conditioners, and even refrigerators without telling the recipient (conveniently passing the burden of the fee and disposal logistics from households that could afford to buy replacements/upgrades to ones that were relying on free groups to get their appliances). Then again, I think I’d watch to see if there’s a problem before preemptively trying to lock it down and possibly making the system worse overall.

I’ve currently got a giant box of various working laptop chargers (a company trashed their entire supply of loaners). I’ve been thinking about building some kind of outdoor free library (similar to the ones for books) with a bunch of cubbords sorted by brand, but need to figure out a decent location where it can live.

Also ask around friends and family - in my experience lots of folks keep a couple old machines they no longer need because they don’t want to throw them out (or pay extra to throw them out) and once folks know you as the old computer guy you might be surprised at how many people message you to be like ‘you want this?’ before they throw something out.

And if that doesn’t work, there’s always free groups like Buy Nothing and Everything is Free online, usually local to your town or city.

Corporations and universities often have ewaste bins but getting access will depend on your circumstances. I find them there, clean them up, and pass them to a local refugee resettlement charity.

Your local recycling center may be accepting volunteers - I’ve been working with a guy who volunteers at our recycling center and he’s been working on setting up a reuse option for all the working laptops that come through. Currently their policy is that all computers must be securely destroyed to protect peoples’ information but if he can catch them and get permission to wipe the drives and give them away then he’s allowed to do so. He also saves hundreds of TVs and monitors per year - he could do more, tons still get thrown out, but they have some tight space limitations at the center and have already been giving him as much space for storage and organization as they can.

Also proplifting is easy as can be with succulents. You can pick leaves up off the floor around the display and just set them on some dirt at home. Next thing you know you have a new plant.

I’ve only ever bought one new computer in my life (I currently own like a dozen laptops) and I’ve never actually bought a TV. I’ve gotten them all from friends and relatives, pulled them from ewaste and picked them up off the curb. I’m sure this varys wildly but where I am it feels like working electronics are so common and available in our world we’re one step short of just picking them up off the ground.

I’m a huge fan of rom archives! A few years ago I built an arcade cabinet using as many secondhand parts and materials as possible and set it up to run a ton of games on an ewaste retropie. It took months longer to make than it would have if I’d just gone to a lumberyard but I had the space and time, and I was already on the local free groups daily so keeping an eye out for stuff from my parts list wasn’t hard.

Sure! Always happy to hear any recommendations!

Same! I think I’ve only ever paid for one computer, everything else has been hand-me-downs or ewaste. I’ve never had a top of the line machine but I don’t need one for my hobbies or work. Usually when I start a new project I take a laptop off the pile, install a fresh os, and set it up just for that.

The power draw is a good point and definitely something to consider - one of my neighbors recently put a meter on his old one and was surprised to find it drew as much power as his air conditioner. I’m not sure how to balance the higher draw against the environmental cost of manufacturing and shipping and disposing of the TV, but I’m doing my best to contribute as little to the economy as I can, so I’ve settled for being careful to just turn it off whenever I’m not actively watching something. My city has options for sourcing power from green sources so what I do use hopefully encourages more investment in wind and solar in my region. (It seems pretty legit from what I’ve been able to find anyways.)

Good points! I suspect the ‘even thickness’ thing came from broken up concrete pads/sidewalks/patios, where the result would be irregulary shaped on X and Y but somewhat consistent for Z depending on how well they prepped the site for the slab. In that case it might end up pretty similar to landscaping rock. In some of the photos you can see they have a much flatter top and much more irregular edges and undersides.

100% agreed on demolition practices. There’s a lot of potential in deconstruction for reclaiming building materials rather than consigning them to the waste stream. The tradeoff is in time, person hours (my grandfather once claimed a truckload of bricks from a demolished mill to build the family fireplace - my mother and her siblings weren’t allowed to come inside that summer unless they chipped cement off some bricks and brought them with them). And in materials/energy - blades for a concrete saw and power to run it, perhaps. I’m sure there are other ways to get more-or-less regular building blocks but they’ll have some cost to balance against the good of saving the materials and reducing the need for new manufacturing. Either way, there’s some cool potential. Treating rubble or urbanite like quarried stone I think fits the solarpunk ethos.

Thank you for the details on bonding concrete! I’ve used cement to patch some holes in custom-shaped, 45° concrete blocks I made once (didn’t shake all the air pockets out of the first couple) so I knew you couldn’t just stick concrete to concrete, but not how to actually go about it when you had to. I’ll refer back here if I need to fix it someday, or if it comes up in any of my stories.

Thanks!

There’s conversion to EV, conversion to run on woodgas or possibly conversion to an alcohol engine - I think it depends on what’s readily available locally in parts and energy sources. If you have a sawmill or work construction or deconstruction and can be burning wood scraps for fuel that already exist, gasification might make sense. If you live in a place with lots of sugarcane or another source of alcohol, that might work. Ideally your energy source is a waste product of something that’s already there, and your use doesn’t incentivize more deforestation etc (that’s the hard part).

I also started a list of car parts that can be used/repurposed for other tasks, mostly based on stuff I’d seen on permaculture and tool forums: https://jacobcoffinwrites.wordpress.com/2024/09/04/using-every-part-of-the-car-a-resource-for-solarpunk-writers-and-artists/ it’s intended more for writers/artists, but some of the links might be interesting.

TBH this is some really basic wiring stuff. You identify three differently colored wires, match them to three terminals, and tighten three screws. The same attachment system is in every outlet and light switch in your house.

When I was a kid, a buddy and I would pick through the scrap metal pile at the town dump for forging/blacksmithing material. Most of the guys working there would just kind of ignore us, but the old timer who ran the place would start yelling if he noticed and we’d have to scram. Nothing ever came of it, luckily. I would have explained that we were really bad at forging so most of the metal rods and lawnmower blades etc were going to end up back there eventually.

Things are a bit better where I am now. A friend volunteers at the dump and they’ve let him set aside TV’s to test and give away, and if he catches people when they drop off computers, he can ask if they want it to get reused, otherwise the dump’s secure destruction guarantee means he has to let it get sent for recycling. Unfortunately he doesn’t have time to pull hard drives or anything like that.

I wish for a society where that kind of reuse was the norm. Where items that work or can be fixed get set aside, organized, and cleaned up, and that that used stuff was people’s default when they need something. Reuse infrastructure on a huge, corporate/municipal scale. For now I just help him divert computers to people who can use them, and dig stuff out of corporate ewaste I have access to to give away.

Just wanted to add some more thoughts, this time about changes in thinking I’ve noticed after a couple years of using these groups.

The first is that it’s been awesome at helping me let go of stuff I’ve been holding on to in case I need it. Part of that is just the fact that I was keeping stuff so it wouldn’t get thrown away, but the bigger part is the confidence that if I let go of something I can replace it if I need it.

It works something like this: I’ll find a piece of furniture on trash day, or get it off my local EIF page. Maybe an exercise bike, or an ergonomic kneeling chair for example. I’ll use it for a bit, but maybe not enough. Someone else posts an ISO looking for one, and I know I can pass it on to them because if it turns out I need the thing, I can get another one the same way. It’s almost a bit of a post-scarcity feeling, like you have the items that are individually significant because they’re sentimental, they have special memories attached, or were a gift, or passed to you by a relative etc. And you have everything else, that you’re just kind of using for the moment. It’s surprisingly freeing. I especially like doing this for building supplies (wood, paint, stain, etc). I’ll grab stuff to keep it out of the landfill, or even with a specific project in mind. But if I still have it when someone needs one, (it takes me a long time to get to some projects) then I feel safe to pass it to them knowing I can get more.

The second thing is that it’s helped me break out of the mindset of seeing other people as a resource to exploit. That sounds harsh, but I think it’s very much the default in our society. I notice this most when I talk to friends or relatives about something I gave away and they mention that I should have sold it. I’m lucky enough to be in an okay place financially - not enough for my big goals, but enough at least so that I feel safe day to day - so I don’t have to worry about trying to get paid for everything I do (and I know how big this is - I’m very grateful to be in this place now). These groups really are just people helping each other out. I give stuff into the community, and get different stuff back out, from different people, but it all kind of evens out, and we all benefit. I sometimes find myself giving something to someone who previously helped me, or vice-versa, but we’re not trying to track value or debts between specific individuals, it’s just a funny surprise to see someone again.

I don’t know if this is useful info, I just wanted to put it down here now that I’ve noticed it.

An inability to fit large furniture into my sedan has definitely been a limiting factor on what I’ve claimed over the years and I don’t doubt it has affected others.

That said, I’ve seen a lot of clever solutions to moving large items through our group.

People here are fairly generous with offering their vehicles when they see a discussion where someone can’t get an item, especially because of physical limitations. There is also some kind of volunteer service in this town for transportating things for the elderly or disabled, which I sometimes see recommended. U-Haul rental trucks are surprisingly cheap but what’s really cool is when people sort of ride-share daisy-chain the thing - they’ll coordinate a route between a bunch of people who need to move bulky objects, basically taking turns. We kind of did this once. I had helped a friend build an arcade cabinet, mostly out of salvaged materials, and we rented a truck to move it. At their place we photographed the armchair the arcade cab would be replacing and put it up on the group. By the time the arcade cabinet was set up we had someone interested in the chair, so we loaded it in the truck and drove it to their place on our way back to the rental lot. It’s not too uncommon to see someone post that they’ll have a truck this day, what do you need moved.

Often the trade-off for not spending money is time or sweat - time waiting for the thing you need (whether that’s a specific dimension of lumber, a type of appliance, or a stack of cinder blocks) to show up on the group, or (for those of us who are able) sweat to move it. My spouse and I have spent many walks lugging some piece of furniture back to our apartment. When I was helping my neighbor clean out we had one lady cross half the city with a wheeled cart planning to drag a filing cabinet home that way (my neighbor insisted on using his hatchback instead, which worked out better for all concerned).

The groups definitely aren’t a full-fleged solution yet - they can’t match the convenience of capitalism which will generate the item new, deliver it tomorrow, and replace it if it arrives damaged.

But that level of convenience is fairly new in human experience, so maybe part of a solarpunk future will have to be paced a little slower or a little less precise. I grew up listening to stories from my grandparents about growing up on farms in the Great Depression, and worked for a brief span at a farm museum where the historical business model appeared to have been “make do” so that might color my thinking.

In my hobby of making things with as little waste as possible, I’m often accepting tradeoffs. Time spent to find the materials I need rather than just going to the store, warped or cracked boards rather than new, stain found on garbage day rather than a shade I picked out of a rainbow of swatches. I like the addition challenge, but I know it’s not for everyone. I think figuring out how to make it more palatable is probably one of my long term goals