Sponsor's Message

Well it seems that those days are long-gone.

With labour rates at an all-time high, the cost of new equipment at an all-time low, and the range of different makes and models on sale so large as to make keeping spares for all of them virtually uneconomic, I fear the poor old electronics repair man is a dying breed.

Even the humble PC is more likely to be binned than fixed these days, unless you're prepared to have a go at it yourself. Even then, you can forget about component-level servicing -- the finest level of granularity you'll be able to work to is a board-level replacement.

Of course this isn't necessarily a bad thing -- today's electronic equipment is smaller, cheaper, more reliable and better than it's ever been (except in the case of Sony - but that's another story I've already told).

I for one would much rather get a new TV set when the old one has a terminal spaz-attack than spend about the same amount of money just to have it patched up, and I suspect most people feel the same.

But what's happening to all those junked PC boards, plastic cases and other bits that can change from prized possession to broken-down garbage in the flash of an electrical arc?

Now have your say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums While you're here, why not visit the Aardvark Hall of Shame and perhaps make your own nomination.

Are we actually recycling any of this stuff or does it just get added to the local landfill?

I remember when gold prices were very high that there was quite a bit of recycling done on some electronic components -- but I don't see this happening today.

And surely all those plastic monitor cases can be ground up and re-used for something? But nobody's ever said "here's your new monitor sir, would you like us to recycle your old one?"

Now I'm no greenie and there are no sandals in my closet but, with oil prices now blowing through the US$50/barrel mark, I'm starting to think that we're being awfully stupid simply throwing away all the congealed dinosaur juice that even a single monitor case represents.

Given that NZ is supposed to be an "eco-friendly" nation, why are we simply dumping so much non-biodegradable stuff into the ground?

When I was young (oh so long ago), we used to replace the picture tubes in our television sets when they went soft or failed. The old tubes would be sent away to be "reconditioned" which was a great re-use of resources.

Similarly, the cabinets were usually made from wood so when they were chucked out, they'd rot quietly into the ground, returning their component elements back to the environment in a safe and useful manner.

Sure, today our consumer electronic devices cost less in terms of your dollar-spend, but is the long-term price something that we're not properly taking into account?

Will the future see us excavating landfills to extract the (by then) ultra valuable plastics and other gems they contain?

And here's your Aardvark question of the day:

How many monitors have you purchased and what did you do with the ones you no longer have?

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!