What do you do with your old electronic junk?

If you're like me, you have piles of old computer equipment laying around the house or in storage. Some of it was given to you because you're the local neighborhood computer guy, and some of it you actually used years ago and still keep it around just in case.

Well, now it's years later and you're married, and your lovely wife is nagging you to get rid of that pile of junk. Rather than fight a lengthy bloody battle, you quietly concede the argument just to keep peace in the house.

But now you have a problem: What in the world do you do with all that stuff? A lot of it is still usable, and a lot of it simply can't be thrown in the garbage because of toxic chemicals it contains.

Well, my friends, I'm here to tell you there are several options. The first one is my favorite: Freecycle. Search the site for a freecycle group near you and sign up. It's a moderated mailing list and, if your area is a busy one, you'll get several hundred emails a day, but do what I do and sign up only for the duration you need to use it, then unsubscribe.

Freecycle is useful for this kind of thing. You send out an email with a description of what you have to give away, that email goes directly to thousands of inboxes, and if someone is interested they'll email you back and you can make arrangements for them to come pick it up. It seems there's always someone out there looking for an old 2Mb ISA video card, old school external 28.8k dial-up modem, or other outdated hardware.

At first you are heavily moderated. Your first few messages will be scrutinized at the molecular level, and if it doesn't pass muster then you'll get a rejection notice. If your message is ok, then it gets passed along to the list. This will happen for the first handful of messages you try to post to the list, but after you've proven yourself worthy you'll be free and clear to post messages without moderation.

The moderators of the list also ask that the first message you send is to offer something up. This is to keep leechers away that do nothing but take things from other people.

Another option is to check out craigslist.com. If you've been living in a cave for the past five years and don't know what that is, it's a free ad service. You can post just about anything for sale there, and find stuff you're looking for. I use it a lot if I have something I know I can a few bucks for and really don't want to just give it away. It's great.

But what if you have something that nobody really wants, but it contains a truckload of lead or other hazardous compounds and you can't simply just throw it in the trash? That's when it's time to start looking for somewhere to recycle it.

Most places will charge you a small fee to do this, but it's usually not too much, and anyway no price is too high to keep your spouse happy, right?

You should be careful, though. Some e-recyclers take your stuff and simply dump it in third-world countries where it creates all kind of environmental problems. To avoid those kind of recyclers, you may want to check out the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) for a huge list of eco-friendly recyclers. I checked this list out and was surprised to find that a lot of retailers in my area accept electronic items for recycling for a reasonable price, or even free in some cases.