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Does anyone have any ideas as to what to do with excess "waste plastic" that is on the outsides of Computers and Printers??? I would be willing to sell it but most places aren't even willing to talk to you unless you have "TON" of it and a ton takes of quite a bit of space and getting to that much I think would take a while.

I would like a solution, as well. I've been trying to keep my plastics out of the landfills.

I recently offered to GIVE my sorted materials to a company that buys waste plastics. I received a response within a couple of hours - a computer generated standard form - "We have succesfully received your communication! Your request will be addressed promptly", then it went on with "Have you seen our blog?", "Are you in need shredding services?" and other BS, with links. That was on Nov 7th, since then, I've heard nothing...

Grr. I typed a long reply and dragged on chrome a bit to far and it refreshed. Damn. Big post tomorrow when I'm less annoyed at technology.

Let's try this again.
The issue with plastic is that no two manufacturing plants make the same product. A pet bottle from Pepsi made in Canada is not the same as the pet bottle of Coke from Brazil.
The case for your hp made in Malaysia is not the same ABS formulation as the lg made in Korea.

most plastics buyers want it in tonnage because the rate for various plastics runs 1/100th to 2 cents per lb.
Metallic plastics are easier to sell. Just toss them in the metal's heavy breakage bin. Ie coper #3 or aluminium #3
Or laminate class if the yard has one.

Gold flashed and silver flashed plastics are running $2.35/lb and 34c/lb today
Nickel plastic Is 8c/lb.

I appreciate the reply lostinlodos.

But still the same question wasn't answered and that is what to do with pounds of plastic that is taking up space and room until getting enough for a ton(which is 2000lbs of the stuff) and then someone hopefully will be interested to come and take a look.

I am at about 50-60lbs of plastic (from just the front panels) not even talking about taking apart printers (which I am very reluctant to start into as most of the printers is plastic) and amount of space it takes up being unshredded is a lot.

Am I the only one with this situation/problem???

Any ideas??

I'm lucky to live between two allied wm centres.
The vast majority Of plastic i just load into my suv and dump for free at the recycling sort for a-wm. They don't like ps/pp/abs in municipal bins but don't care if you bring it to them.
Just look up plastics in your yellow pages or do a Google for plastic + [zipcode] to find plastic companies near you. Some even pick it up for free.

Selling most plastic is a lost cause. But getting rid of it isn't /that/ hard with a little work.
Can also try Craig's list to give it away.

Printers give you plastic a few motors some peripheral boards. Sometimes one or two telco boards. Steel. Wire. Ics. Higher end office printers may give you ram expansions.

A LOT of plastic!
Worth it. About half the time it's worth breaking them down but like the lottery the gold mine printers are out there and keep us stripping them for the potential score.
I've gotten $1.99 hp brother and Xerox from good will that have paid out over $15 total eace so do break them down if you have the time and a recycling centre near you.

A cheap woodchipper works wonders!

If you're a fan of chemistry, placing the grindings into a sealed container (with a pressure relief) and heating to a very high temperature for a period will "refine" the plastics into a very volatile liquid. (think, making charcoal) If the temperature is too low, it will turn into wax, if air is introduced, an explosion will likely result.

I would not suggest running it through an engine, but it's certainly wonderful for heating!

Yes!
And no!
That's what I was suggesting for our more rural users here;in a way.
Many fuel refiners will take at least some interest in plastics as a source for alt fuel refining.

That stated: you've obviously got a method that's working for you but for the general public I would HIGHLY caution AGAINST running your plastics through a wood chipper . Plastic IS fuel to begin with. An oil product.
Enough heat and enough static discharge and you have one hell of a fireball. .


Personally I'd suggest if you're going that route to use the same method I use to "chip" clean stripped low and midgrade boards: a shredder.
Specifically a high volume a14 bank shredder. Like a fellows bulldog. Info on getting that method to work if anyone asks but again I believe you're asking for trouble in general to mix powdered plastic plus heat plus petrol fumes.

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Is there any value to stripped low and midgrade boards