DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

I felt so good about rescuing 21 lbs of tech trash from the landfill that I announced a collection at work. I volunteered to pay the shipping and recycling fees for everybody’s old diskettes, CDs, videotapes, etc. I was slightly anxious that I was committing to a big expense, but I felt strongly enough that this was the right thing to do that I decided it was worth blowing part of my meager music budget.

I asked a co-worker to set up a collection box. I announced the recycling drive at a staff meeting, and then via email the next day. Then I sent an email reminder to everyone three weeks later.

Today I went to the office to pick up the box. I felt like a lobsterman, reeling in the trap with anticipation… what obsolete treasures would I have collected? Original Win95 install disks? Quicken 1.0 floppies? Prodigy startup diskettes? (Do not tell me you don’t remember Prodigy.)

But all I got was two lousy toner cartridges. I think there’s about 20 people in the office, with 30 home computers between them, yet there was not a single old floppy to be found. Not a single coaster CD. Nary a videotape, ZIP disk, cassette, or inkjet cartridge.

I hope this means they’d all already found sane destinations for their expired media. They tend to be a pretty green group.

Or maybe I’m the only pack-rat in the bunch. I’m sure some people don’t save 15-year-old installation media. I always figured I might have some use for, say, six consecutive releases of Stuffit Deluxe, but in retrospect I can say I was incorrect. I barely have any use for brand new installation media.

In any case, I will need to come up with a better plan to rescue tech trash from people’s closets and garages before it hits the landfill. I’m sure there are tons of it out there, raw material going to waste.