Last weekend, I replaced the logic board of my ol’ trusty Macbook Pro. And lo, once it had risen from the ashes like the majestic Phoenix, I pondered what to do with the old, broken logic board. I didn’t want my computer part to end up in the landfill; but I wondered how to recycle electronics in Durham?

How could I recycle my electronics in Durham (Durham, North Carolina, that is, not Canada)?

Triangle Ecycling

Luckily, right next to my work is Triangle Ecycling, a great place to recycle computers, radios, phones, printers — heck, almost ANY used electronics (here’s a list of the electronics they recycle).

I scampered across the street to the Triangle Ecycling building, fearfully clutching my broken logic board in my clammy hands, playing Frogger in real life. A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead.

After making it to Triangle Ecycling, I bumped into none other than Larry Herst, CEO and founder of Triangle Ecycling. He was nice enough to take my broken electronics to recycle, and give me a quick tour of the place.

Recycling Ewaste into Education

Besides helping people recycle electronics, this place also holds classes for Durham high school students, where they’re taught how to repair computers.

Not only that, but they then donate some recycled computers to Durham charities. They sell the rest of the repaired computers on eBay in order to help cover their operating costs. Very great.

Recycle Electronics, Help Durham

So if you have any old electronics that you don’t want anymore, I recommend taking them to Triangle Ecycling to be recycled. Not only will you be keeping toxic electronics out of the landfill, but you’ll be helping Durham charities, and giving high school students a chance to learn how to fix electronics through the E-Scholar Program! Win-win-win!

P.S. They might even give you a free sticker if you tell them EcoJoe sent you.

I shall close with a video about this wondrous place:

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Self, I do enjoy using the Google. But what if there was a way to use it and help the Earth at the same time?”.

I never thought that either, until I ran into EcoSearch. EcoSearch is powered by Google, so you get the same, high-quality search results that you’ve come to expect from this search behemoth.

Google shares some of its advertising money with partner companies like EcoSearch. EcoSearch then goes and donates 100% of its profits to various and diverse environmental charities.

In short, I’d recommend setting EcoSearch as your homepage, and maybe even adding its search bar to your browser. You’ll be searching the internets anyway, so why not help the environment also?

Perhaps you’ve wanted one of those snazzy LCD TVs or monitors for awhile, but you haven’t quite been able to justify it. Maybe now you can. READ MORE »

Warning: Boring technical non-green mess
I learned an important lesson last night.  I’d been putting off upgrading WordPress for a few weeks, since I worried about losing all the articles and pictures I’ve ever put on this here site.  But finally, last night I bit the bullet and began the arduous task of backing up the database and upgrading all this mess.  By an amazing coincidence, I chose the absolute wrong time to do this, and learned this lesson…

Check Your Host’s Status

I started at about midnight, so by one o’ clock I had backed up the good ol’ database and deleted some important parts of WordPress.  I was just beginning to put in the new WordPress mess, when everything stopped.  So’s I head over to check Dreamhost’s status, and what do you know, everything is gonna be down for the next couple of hours. Whups.

So at that point there was nothing to do but wait ’til today to fix it. Luckily, it looks like everything is shipshape.  Next time, I will make sure to check if my host’s service will be going down right in the middle of upgrading WordPress.

Back in the day, CRTs were all the rage. For those o’ you that don’t know, CRTs are those big, heavy monitors that used to be all over the place. All the cool kids had them. But no more. Now, people can get flat-panel monitors for a lot cheaper than they used to be. This has led to perfectly good (except for the fact they weigh a ton) CRT monitors being thrown away. Which leads to what I saw yesterday…

Discovery of the Discarded CRTs

I was leaving work when I happened to see some mess next to the dumpster. I took a closer look, and fought down a wave of nausea as I realized that another office was throwing away two old CRT monitors. With tears in me eyes, I gingerly lifted them and brought them into my car, hushing their whimpers as I buckled them in.

Resuscitation of the CRT Monitors

I peeled into my house’s parking space and ran the heavy CRTs into my computer room at home. They were safe… for now. Luckily, I actually needed a CRT, since I had tried to set up Linux Mint on a computer, but had failed when it tried to use monitor frequencies that my other monitor couldn’t handle. Anyhoo, I ended up using the found CRT to successfully fix up that computer.

Where Can I Donate my CRT Monitor?

If you have a CRT you don’t want, you gots some options on where to donate it:

• Ask a public school or library if they want it.
• Give it away on Freecycle, Craigslist, or OhSoHandy
• See if Goodwill or another thrift store wants it

Why Shouldn’t I Just Throw Out My CRT?

First, it’s wasteful. Come on now. Second, there’s a lot of toxic mess in CRTs that could leak out in a dump, such as:

• lead
• phosphorous
• cadmium
• barium
• mercury

Moral of the Story

Instead of just tossing your old, faithful CRT monitor into the trash, give it a second life somewhere. You’ll be helping someone while helping the environment, too. Now that’s what I’m talking about.