108

We recently switched to using a Linux Mint laptop with an adblocker for our streaming (while also cancelling a bunch of services). A friend at the recycling center set it aside for me - the screen was irreparably smashed but it was otherwise quite a nice little laptop. Replacement screens were too expensive so I carefully removed the broken one entirely so it'd default to the HDMI port and then set it up as a quick media center (we watch a lot of YouTube and the ads were driving me crazy, I might switch to a more purpose-built OS eventually). The TV is one I pulled from an ewaste bin to replace my previous ewaste TV after it finally gave up. It has a thin line through one edge of the screen occasionally but is otherwise fine. I also recently found a perfectly good wireless trackball mouse and a Bluetooth keyboard in the same bin where I got the TV (came with that other mouse). The bin even supplied HDMI cables. The whole thing is perched on a particle board TV stand I found like a decade ago when the college kids move out.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Beacon@fedia.io 10 points 4 hours ago

If you're using this stuff in lieu of buying new stuff, then you are indeed reducing waste. Kudos!

[-] JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 hours ago

I've only ever bought one new computer in my life (I currently own like a dozen laptops) and I've never actually bought a TV. I've gotten them all from friends and relatives, pulled them from ewaste and picked them up off the curb. It feels like working electronics are so common and available in our world we're one step short of just picking them up off the ground.

this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2024
108 points (99.1% liked)

zerowaste

1 readers
111 users here now

Discussing ways to reduce waste and build community!

Celebrate thrift as a virtue, talk about creative ways to make do, or show off how you reused something!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS