Old sheds united. #Allotment #Recycle #ReUse

Use your #EarthDay to learn how to #recycle better

Throwing everything into the same recycling bin and assuming it all works out is wishful thinking.

(thread )

#DIY #Electronics #recycle #earthweek

Most LED lightbulbs marked "9W" use LED chips with a forward voltage of ~14.2 volts and a current of 85 milliamps.

When an LED lightbulb turns "blinky" (fails, or is about to fail) the LEDs are usually perfectly fine, it's the driver chip that's cooked. LED lightbulbs are designed to purposely overheat, as to keep the demand for new bulbs steady. Thank Phillips for that waste.

If you cut in between each chip and pry them out of the aluminum PCB like a pizza, you have some very powerful LED's to use in anything from headlights to desk lamps. Scrape away the plastic coating on each side of the chip and solder away.

PS: don't look at the LED when you test them, they are vastly more powerful than I ever expected.

Mysterious Creatures Emerge from Recycled Materials in Sculptures by Spencer Hansen via Colossal [Shared]

Long-legged creatures don otherwordly masks in sculptures by Bali-based artist Spencer Hansen, whose work explores identity and connection through a cast of uncanny characters. Using primarily natural, found, and recycled materials like wood, metal, bone, plant fibers, and ceramic, he draws inspiration from surrounding environment and frequent travels. Originally from Idaho, he relocated to Bali where he built a workshop that houses studios and live-work space for a team of skilled artisans who help to bring the pieces to life.

https://welchwrite.com/blog/2025/04/18/mysterious-creatures-emerge-from-recycled-materials-in-sculptures-by-spencer-hansen-via-colossal-shared/

From Gadgets to Garbage

62 million metric tons of e-waste in 2022 — and only 22% was properly recycled. The rest? Landfills, illegal exports, or lost forever. It's about responsibility and sustainability.

Promote sustainable design + the Right to Repair
Buy reused and refurbished
Support ethical recycling

How do you approach this? Repairing more? Skipping upgrades? Buying refurbished?

#EWaste #Sustainability #CircularEconomy #RightToRepair #Recycle

https://blog.runbox.com/2025/04/from-gadgets-to-garbage-the-global-e-waste-crisis/

When you're having a few beers with friends in the wilds and someone brings along a broken rotavator that needs fixing… when the clan fixes it of course you have to take it for a celebratory lap to stress-test it. #repair #fix #recycle

“Right now, there is a huge demand for such ‘hybrid’ laptops... Most people don’t care about having the latest model; they just want something that works and won’t break the bank.”

https://www.theverge.com/tech/639126/india-frankenstein-laptops

Always cool to see stuff destined for e-waste being made useful again.

https://hackaday.com/2025/04/08/turning-old-cellphones-into-sbcs/

Screening today, one third complete. Though this cheap screen does not intend to be repaired the vibrator is great at cutting through the tiny nails that hold the frame in place. Screws replace them for easier future repairs.

@teruterubozu thinks I should get a calligraphy brush next, lol. She's just jealous of my zen like intentionality repairs.

PSA: If you want to chop up your loops like it's 1995 you could either grab #ReCycle from the big plugin vendors for 100 earth credits, or you could head to https://www.reasonstudios.com/download-recycle and download it for free (and your email address).

I actually had it in my wishlist for a while, hoping for an eventual discount, and all of a sudden this dropped!

Now if only I still had a SCSI port to connect my sampler to...

Show coming up + commercial neon + 3 upcoming classes = oh dear I am busy.

I did make a crackle tube this week with Kacie Lees- such fun! We decided to make the upcoming crackle tube class on April 19th an 20th a Bring Your Own Glass - BYOG - to smash and put inside a tube :). The recycled aspect makes the final tube more interesting and its also just fun to smash glass every now an then. With a community of students and glass professionals- Urbanglass has some really interesting glass trash to smash.

I made a few gifs of the crackle tubes as photos can't really capture the frenetic nature of a tight fill. I also added a gif of Kacie attaching an electrode on the topo chico seltzer bottle krypton crackle tube I made. The topo bottles I smashed had enameled labels so they hold up to the heating needed to purify the glass.

Reuse, Repair, Recycle

‘Repair’ workshops are not just effective, they change the way people think about what they have and what they might buy. Having volunteered a day a month over 4 years I also understand the satisfactiongives. Not to mention making some things economically viable for those who don't have the ‘luxury' of dump and repurchase and encouraging manufacturers to reform.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/06/repair-shops-broken-devices-new-lease-of-life

My neighbor asked me for a clock in a special format for her office, and now it's done.

I made the clock with wood from an old pallet.

cc: @diy @makershour

#DurfTeVragen Ben op zoek naar een M1 macbook air. Mijn oudste gooide over haar oude i7 macbook air een plens water en die doet het nu niet meer.
Heb je nog een 256gb model liggen? Ik hoor het graag.

I have no idea if this will get traction but am putting it out there to the fediverse. Am also curious to see if anyone has had the same idea.

Come October 2025 Microsoft is going to end support for Windows 10. (see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/end-of-support) There are concerns this is going to result in a sudden influx of eWaste as many computers won't support the upgrade to Windows 11. Whilst there are options to continue using Windows 10 (ranging from "Who cares?" to "Let's pay Microsoft for security updates.") the reality is likely going to result in many of these devices being sent for scrap.

In the meantime there is a growing digital divide where people are unable to afford devices to get them internet access due to a multitude of reasons. This can affect an individual in many areas from not having the tools to use at school to not being able to access online services.

Which got me thinking of a new social enterprise / venture / approach to address both issues.

I suspect the vast majority of devices that are (a) still working and (b) cannot be upgraded to Windows 11 can still run Linux OSs like LinuxMint or ChromeFlex. I've had plenty of personal experience with both and can see the potential especially when it means getting online. My daily driver is now a Linux based device which I am using for my current studies.

So how realistic would be it be to connect the dots and address both issues?

Curious, very curious. Might have to see what social enterprise funding might be available to make this a reality.

Anyone want to join me on the journey?

The sun came out for tea the other day