
Ask HN: Should I recycle my Bitcoin miners or save them as collectibles? - B1tchard0
I have a mass of boards, some with some pretty cool and totally unique circuitry. The cointerra&#x27;s are the heaviest PCBs I&#x27;ve ever wielded. The butterfly labs boards are surprising, why? Because they delivered! And also it&#x27;s good circuitry.
As a general enquiry: what should be done with old hardware?
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kodfodrasz
Electronics shops in the EU are obliged to take electronics handed in by
anybody (in consumer amounts) and take care of proper, environment friendly
disposal of the e-junk. Just hand those in. In a few years nobody will care
for outdated bitcoin mining hardware.

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B1tchard0
I'm in the US, and we have recycling programs too.

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kodfodrasz
OK.

I have collected old e-junk for a while, now in the process of getting rid of
them. They take up a whole lot of space, especially in intended to be
preserved in a usable state. I have more often than not failed to keep them
operational. I'm not a museum, and don't have the resources. You should also
consider this.

Now if you don't want it to be usable, live demoable, then just take a few
pictures and videos of it working. That will be enough to remind you of the
olden times, and to recall some nice memories and anecdotes.

edit: Also consider: it is not worth preserving anything if it is not used in
any way: economically or educationally useful. You just to have them around,
it is a waste of space. If you intend to showcase to people it is worth the
effort.

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B1tchard0
I appreciate your response. Sometimes it's difficult to part from things,
especially with the concept that they are valuable. However, the hippy dippy
idea that nothing has value isn't effectual in "this day and age".

If we're going to accomplish Elon Musk level relevancy, then we can't ignore
the significance of past technology. edit: I basically agree with your
comment, and thanks for it.

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kodfodrasz
I don't suggest to ignore the past, just say that it may not be
practical/feasible to keep every bit of it around. We still remember the
importance of many now defunct technologies: Roman pilum, ancient oil-lamps,
the crop cycle, the Ford T-model. These were important steps on your journey
to our present word, and we still remember, but have only a few items
preserved in museums.

About the difficulty of parting from things: I know, that is why i mentioned
to create digital reminders, to help you remember the important parts of the
past.

And what is also important: if you do not keep stuff, be responsible about the
disposal. I do not presume you would not be, just repeating it should anybody
else read our discussion, may this help him/her in making an informed
decision.

edit: In Hungary, where I live, we have some nice collections about computer
history. I know of 2 noteworthy ones, one is in Szeged, in a former military
base, the other is at a university in Budapest. Both are public, the first
being a museum, the second being a free exhibit. If the stuff I had was
anything special, I'd consider donating it to them, if they needed it. You
should also check around to see if some institutions would take the
responsibility of preserving it, write some short letter about the things you
wish to donate, their importance in technology, you know, the stuff that is
hung out in museums to educate the technologically not-so-informed, and ask
them if they'd take care of them. I believe you could find some places where
it would be a nice item in a public collection. I'm sure they'd also give
credit to you.

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B1tchard0
May it help, sure, I agree. And yes, responsible reuse, and recycling are
worthy of promotion and ideals to strive for, tho being a responsible human
according to ones individual interpretation isn't very satisfying. Responsible
disposal is not the end all and be all

