Clearing EE waste in Office

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Current situation

We need to have less items in the office area in order to enable the room to become a 3D printing area. Currenlty clearing Electronic Equipment (EE)/ metal/ wood waste is down to the good will of a select few. (Andres may have an one off/ ongoing answer for EE waste in the form of local collections from the council)

N.B. We're looking at the possibility of moving servers to the loft area but I'd suggest we can keep that, and maybe even the layout of the 3D printing room as separate as possible for now.


Andy (who finds it weird to write about himself in the 3rd person) has been getting a sense of what's in there and created this page to start the discussion. This is my opinion:

Looking at the current items, some have utility value (spare parts/ cables/ connectors), a very few have monetary value. Most could be seen through the eyes of 'this is no longer of use to me but maybe it will be to someone else'. As someone with womble tenancies I have some sympathy for that, and am sure the intent was positive, but the space isn't large and people have differing opinions of useful

I'd suggest that:

  • we tend towards disposing, rather than keeping - we clearly do get new influxes of equipment and will have less space for when they come in.
  • people that vote to keep something should ask themselves if they'd like to take it, are realistically going to use it themselves soon, or could it easily be sourced off ebay.
  • I've, personally, no will to actively drive this process by cataloging and asking about every item on the mailing list but am happy to give some time towards this
  • Members have 1 month (or shout if they can't get down) to label/ log items they're keeping there. EVERYTHING else if fair game for disposal

Some examples

  • We have 3.5 inch floppy drives - some may suggest keep 1 for posterity. I'd throw them all as I don't genuinely believe anyone will touch them.
  • An old joystick - could be part of a cool project for someone - will it be? I'd throw it
  • There's a large old amp there. We've certainly got the skills in RML to test it and get it working - but I don't think it's been touched in a long time - I'd throw it.
  • Monitors - we have many - I'd keep a 2/3 spare after we've set up the 3D room; for replacing/ donating.

Questions

  • How clear do we need this for the 3D printing area to work? I've assumed 'as much as possible' in the above.
  • How do we go about deciding/ voting/ advertising offers to members?
    • Asking everyone lead to inaction/ hording
    • Left to me I'd probably be too ruthless
    • Do we put a time limit on items once offered- what is it?
  • Should we be concentrating clearing this room separately for the 3D printers:
    • Or should be doing is a part of a larger tidy up (main section and loft). So that we can store some items in other places. I'd put the monitors in the loft.
    • Part of the discussion about server move to come in another page but I'll note it here - the server(s?) aren't currently taking up much space as it's under the desk - creating a space in the loft will need a larger footprint.
  • Do we need to change anything to prevent this cycle of fill/ clean/ dispose and testing the goodwill of the people doing the latter?

Register of interest

Some interest in items. I'll find a better method for this (google sheets?) but for now

Item Person Asked by
Floppy Drives Garret Email to all
Floppy drives William Watson Email to Andy
Amp William Watson Email to Andy

Add here if you don't get how the tables work: