[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1077},["ShallowReactive",2],{"public-article:broken-device-is-not-garbage":3},{"article":4},{"id":5,"slug":6,"title":7,"excerpt":8,"description":8,"category":9,"categorySlug":10,"categoryNeedsReview":11,"tags":12,"status":17,"publishedAt":18,"updatedAt":19,"readTime":20,"art":21,"coverImage":22,"isMock":11,"author":23,"seo":29,"content":30},"5","broken-device-is-not-garbage","A Broken Device Is Not a Pile of Garbage","Why the right to repair, component salvage, and a little respect for engineering could change how we think about electronic waste.","Thoughts & Discoveries","thoughts-discoveries",false,[13,14,15,16],"refurbish","ecomony","e-wate","recycling","published","2026-10-19T22:27:41Z","2026-10-19T22:57:43Z",5,"circuit","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F296ef01cf899161ac94497b419acb0c0\u002Flarge.jpg",{"id":24,"slug":25,"name":26,"initials":27,"bio":28},"1","author-1","David","D","Techmerc contributor.",{"title":7,"description":8,"image":22},{"type":31,"content":32},"doc",[33,39,43,47,51,55,62,66,70,77,81,85,89,93,103,107,130,134,138,142,146,150,154,160,165,169,173,177,181,185,189,193,197,201,205,210,214,218,222,226,230,242,246,250,254,258,262,266,272,276,292,296,300,304,309,313,317,321,325,329,333,339,343,347,351,355,359,371,375,379,384,388,392,396,405,409,413,417,421,425,429,435,439,443,447,453,457,461,465,469,478,482,486,490,494,498,502,508,513,517,521,527,531,535,539,543,547,551,555,559,563,567,572,576,580,598,602,606,610,614,618,624,628,632,636,642,646,650,654,660,664,668,672,676,680,684,688,692,696,702,706,712,717,721,725,729,733,737,741,745,749,755,759,763,781,785,791,795,799,803,807,811,817,821,825,829,833,837,841,881,887,891,897,902,906,910,914,918,922,926,930,936,940,945,949,953,957,965,973,981,989,997,1006,1010,1014,1018,1023,1027,1031,1035,1039,1043,1047,1051,1055,1059,1063,1069,1073],{"type":34,"content":35},"paragraph",[36],{"type":37,"text":38},"text","I once failed an \"environmental protection\" exam at university.",{"type":34,"content":40},[41],{"type":37,"text":42},"During the exam, my professor asked me whether I even cared about the environment. I remember the spanish inquisition like expression on his face. My answer probably didn't help my chances of passing.",{"type":34,"content":44},[45],{"type":37,"text":46},"I told him, in essence, that I wasn't particularly interested in lectures about environmental responsibility while large corporations were allowed to waste enormous amounts of resources and engineers continued designing products that were unnecessarily difficult to keep alive.",{"type":34,"content":48},[49],{"type":37,"text":50},"We had learned about separating household waste, the different colored recycling bins, global warming, and the usual subjects. All of those things matter. Recycling matters. Reducing household waste matters. I don't dispute any of that.",{"type":34,"content":52},[53],{"type":37,"text":54},"But something about the conversation bothered me then, and it still bothers me today.",{"type":34,"content":56},[57],{"type":37,"marks":58,"text":61},[59],{"type":60},"bold","Why are we so concerned about what people do with their rubbish, but seemingly much less concerned about why so many valuable things become rubbish in the first place?",{"type":34,"content":63},[64],{"type":37,"text":65},"I'm not an environmental scientist. I'm a technology enthusiast, a developer, and someone who loves taking things apart, building things.",{"type":34,"content":67},[68],{"type":37,"text":69},"And from that perspective, the way we throw away electronics drives me absolutely crazy.",{"type":71,"attrs":72,"content":74},"heading",{"level":73},2,[75],{"type":37,"text":76},"I Learned Not to Waste Water Before I Learned Why",{"type":34,"content":78},[79],{"type":37,"text":80},"When I was a kid, we were taught to turn off the tap when we weren't using the water.",{"type":34,"content":82},[83],{"type":37,"text":84},"Growing up in Eastern Europe, money wasn't exactly falling from the sky. Saving water was partly a financial decision. Apparently, cigarettes could be a higher priority than the water bill. Eastern European economics. XD",{"type":34,"content":86},[87],{"type":37,"text":88},"Today, I could afford to leave the tap running all day.",{"type":34,"content":90},[91],{"type":37,"text":92},"But I don't. And I teach my children to turn it off when they aren't using it.",{"type":34,"content":94},[95,97,101],{"type":37,"text":96},"Not because I'm worried about the water bill, but because ",{"type":37,"marks":98,"text":100},[99],{"type":60},"there's no good reason to waste something just because you can afford to",{"type":37,"text":102},".",{"type":34,"content":104},[105],{"type":37,"text":106},"Same action. Different philosophy.",{"type":108,"attrs":109},"image",{"src":110,"alt":111,"title":112,"width":113,"height":114,"alignment":115,"displayWidth":116,"linkToOriginal":11,"mediaId":117,"caption":111,"size":116,"sources":118},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F00fab88b15bf5c28d3684386e4d95dbc\u002Flarge.jpg","",null,1536,1024,"center","large","23",{"original":119,"thumbnail":121,"medium":125,"large":129},{"url":120,"width":113,"height":114},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F00fab88b15bf5c28d3684386e4d95dbc\u002Foriginal.jpg",{"url":122,"width":123,"height":124},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F00fab88b15bf5c28d3684386e4d95dbc\u002Fthumbnail.jpg",320,213,{"url":126,"width":127,"height":128},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F00fab88b15bf5c28d3684386e4d95dbc\u002Fmedium.jpg",960,640,{"url":110,"width":113,"height":114},{"type":34,"content":131},[132],{"type":37,"text":133},"That's how I think about electronics, too.",{"type":34,"content":135},[136],{"type":37,"text":137},"I'm not mourning a broken laptop because I'm too stingy to buy another one. I'm perfectly capable of wanting new hardware. I love new hardware!",{"type":34,"content":139},[140],{"type":37,"text":141},"But when I look at a broken laptop, I don't just see a broken laptop.",{"type":34,"content":143},[144],{"type":37,"text":145},"I see a display, memory, storage, a processor, cooling components, connectors, and a collection of carefully manufactured parts.",{"type":34,"content":147},[148],{"type":37,"text":149},"Some of those parts might be broken - Some might be perfectly fine.",{"type":34,"content":151},[152],{"type":37,"text":153},"And every single one required materials, energy, equipment, and human effort to produce.",{"type":34,"content":155},[156],{"type":37,"marks":157,"text":159},[158],{"type":60},"Being able to afford a replacement doesn't make any of that disappear.",{"type":71,"attrs":161,"content":162},{"level":73},[163],{"type":37,"text":164},"A Broken Product Is Not Necessarily a Collection of Broken Components",{"type":34,"content":166},[167],{"type":37,"text":168},"Imagine a laptop that no longer charges.",{"type":34,"content":170},[171],{"type":37,"text":172},"Perhaps its charging circuit has failed. Perhaps a connector is damaged. Perhaps it just needs Sorin's little friend. Perhaps the motherboard has developed a fault that would cost more to repair than the laptop is worth on the secondhand market.",{"type":34,"content":174},[175],{"type":37,"text":176},"From an ordinary consumer's perspective, that might be the end of the story.",{"type":34,"content":178},[179],{"type":37,"text":180},"Buy another laptop. Move on. But why should the story end there?",{"type":34,"content":182},[183],{"type":37,"text":184},"The screen might still work. The SSD might be fine. The speakers, fans, keyboard, Wi-Fi module, and countless smaller components could still be usable. Not every laptop has removable memory or easily reusable parts, of course. Modern hardware integration often makes recovery more complicated.",{"type":34,"content":186},[187],{"type":37,"text":188},"But that's part of the problem.",{"type":34,"content":190},[191],{"type":37,"text":192},"We increasingly build incredibly sophisticated products that are difficult to disassemble, repair, or repurpose.",{"type":34,"content":194},[195],{"type":37,"text":196},"Sometimes there's a legitimate engineering reason. Smaller devices, improved performance, water resistance, and manufacturing efficiency all involve compromises. Other times, repairability simply doesn't appear to have been much of a priority.",{"type":34,"content":198},[199],{"type":37,"text":200},"Either way, the result can be the same: one relatively small failure turns an expensive, resource-intensive product into electronic waste.",{"type":34,"content":202},[203],{"type":37,"text":204},"And I think that's ridiculous.",{"type":71,"attrs":206,"content":207},{"level":73},[208],{"type":37,"text":209},"Repair Should Be Normal, Not an Act of Rebellion",{"type":34,"content":211},[212],{"type":37,"text":213},"I'm not an electronics reliability engineer, and I'm not pretending I've conducted a scientific study of hardware failures.",{"type":34,"content":215},[216],{"type":37,"text":217},"These are observations from years of repairing electronics with my father, examining devices people have brought to us, and asking questions whenever something breaks.",{"type":34,"content":219},[220],{"type":37,"text":221},"With laptops, I've repeatedly encountered heat-related problems. With televisions, backlight failures have been a familiar sight. And with LED bulbs, I've seen problems in the driver circuitry. That doesn't mean these are the most common failures across the entire industry. It means they're the failures I've personally encountered.",{"type":34,"content":223},[224],{"type":37,"text":225},"And what frustrates me isn't simply that components fail. Everything fails eventually.",{"type":34,"content":227},[228],{"type":37,"text":229},"It's that a relatively small failure can make an otherwise useful product worthless to its owner.",{"type":108,"attrs":231},{"src":232,"alt":111,"title":112,"width":113,"height":114,"alignment":115,"displayWidth":116,"linkToOriginal":11,"mediaId":233,"caption":111,"size":116,"sources":234},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F4309aac61a1a79a4c15249eefb957a3a\u002Flarge.jpg","24",{"original":235,"thumbnail":237,"medium":239,"large":241},{"url":236,"width":113,"height":114},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F4309aac61a1a79a4c15249eefb957a3a\u002Foriginal.jpg",{"url":238,"width":123,"height":124},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F4309aac61a1a79a4c15249eefb957a3a\u002Fthumbnail.jpg",{"url":240,"width":127,"height":128},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F4309aac61a1a79a4c15249eefb957a3a\u002Fmedium.jpg",{"url":232,"width":113,"height":114},{"type":34,"content":243},[244],{"type":37,"text":245},"A television can contain a fantastic display panel, powerful image-processing electronics, speakers, and a perfectly good enclosure. Yet a failure in its power supply or backlighting can make the entire device unusable.",{"type":34,"content":247},[248],{"type":37,"text":249},"Sometimes the repair is straightforward. Sometimes it isn't.",{"type":34,"content":251},[252],{"type":37,"text":253},"A failed LED in a backlight string, for example, can cause the television's protection circuitry to shut down the backlight. That protection can serve a legitimate electrical purpose, but the outcome is still frustrating when the display panel itself remains usable.",{"type":34,"content":255},[256],{"type":37,"text":257},"LED light bulbs can suffer from a similar imbalance. The LEDs may be capable of operating for a long time, while heat-stressed driver electronics fail earlier.",{"type":34,"content":259},[260],{"type":37,"text":261},"I'm not claiming every manufacturer deliberately installs components designed to fail on a particular Tuesday, preferably just after the warranty expires.",{"type":34,"content":263},[264],{"type":37,"text":265},"But we should still ask a simple question:",{"type":34,"content":267},[268],{"type":37,"marks":269,"text":271},[270],{"type":60},"Why should one failed component so often condemn an otherwise useful product?",{"type":34,"content":273},[274],{"type":37,"text":275},"And why is opening, diagnosing, and repairing something frequently more difficult than it needs to be?",{"type":34,"content":277},[278,280,290],{"type":37,"text":279},"That's where the ",{"type":37,"marks":281,"text":289},[282,288],{"type":283,"attrs":284},"link",{"href":285,"target":286,"rel":287,"class":112,"title":112},"https:\u002F\u002Frepair.eu\u002F","_blank","noopener noreferrer nofollow",{"type":60},"right to repair",{"type":37,"text":291}," becomes an environmental issue.",{"type":34,"content":293},[294],{"type":37,"text":295},"Not just a consumer-rights issue. Not just an argument about whether manufacturers should sell spare parts.",{"type":34,"content":297},[298],{"type":37,"text":299},"An environmental issue.",{"type":34,"content":301},[302],{"type":37,"text":303},"Because every device that can be repaired and kept in service is potentially one less device that needs replacing. Repair should be a realistic option that people can evaluate. It shouldn't be made unnecessarily difficult before the evaluation even begins.",{"type":71,"attrs":305,"content":306},{"level":73},[307],{"type":37,"text":308},"Refurbishment Is Great. But Why Stop There?",{"type":34,"content":310},[311],{"type":37,"text":312},"Suppose a device really is beyond economical repair. Fine. Maybe its original life is over. That doesn't mean every component inside it has reached the end of its useful life.",{"type":34,"content":314},[315],{"type":37,"text":316},"We already understand refurbishment. Take an old computer, replace the worn battery or broken screen, clean it up, test it, and put it back into service.",{"type":34,"content":318},[319],{"type":37,"text":320},"Excellent.",{"type":34,"content":322},[323],{"type":37,"text":324},"We also understand the secondhand market. A computer that isn't powerful enough for one person's work might be more than adequate for another person's needs.",{"type":34,"content":326},[327],{"type":37,"text":328},"Also excellent.",{"type":34,"content":330},[331],{"type":37,"text":332},"But I think there's a third possibility that deserves far more attention.",{"type":34,"content":334},[335],{"type":37,"marks":336,"text":338},[337],{"type":60},"Component harvesting.",{"type":34,"content":340},[341],{"type":37,"text":342},"Not simply restoring the original product. Taking usable components out of a product that cannot reasonably be saved, testing them, and using them to build something else.",{"type":34,"content":344},[345],{"type":37,"text":346},"Processors. Memory. Displays. Storage. Cameras. Sensors. Power electronics. Entire circuit boards.",{"type":34,"content":348},[349],{"type":37,"text":350},"Imagine how many perfectly functional memory chips (DDR5, LPDDR, VRAM, and others) have ended up in electronic waste over the past five years simply because they were soldered onto faulty motherboards.",{"type":34,"content":352},[353],{"type":37,"text":354},"And now, with the memory market facing shortages, isn't that a frustrating thought?",{"type":34,"content":356},[357],{"type":37,"text":358},"I'm not suggesting that harvesting old memory chips would magically solve a global RAM shortage. But throwing away working components while manufacturing new ones becomes increasingly expensive should at least make us question how we design and dispose of our electronics.",{"type":108,"attrs":360},{"src":361,"alt":111,"title":112,"width":113,"height":114,"alignment":115,"displayWidth":116,"linkToOriginal":11,"mediaId":362,"caption":111,"size":116,"sources":363},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002Ff8cb441e8a2118186ed18b1a74505f49\u002Flarge.jpg","25",{"original":364,"thumbnail":366,"medium":368,"large":370},{"url":365,"width":113,"height":114},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002Ff8cb441e8a2118186ed18b1a74505f49\u002Foriginal.jpg",{"url":367,"width":123,"height":124},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002Ff8cb441e8a2118186ed18b1a74505f49\u002Fthumbnail.jpg",{"url":369,"width":127,"height":128},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002Ff8cb441e8a2118186ed18b1a74505f49\u002Fmedium.jpg",{"url":361,"width":113,"height":114},{"type":34,"content":372},[373],{"type":37,"text":374},"This isn't science fiction. Component recovery, board-level repair, and reuse already exist in electronics supply chains and repair markets.",{"type":34,"content":376},[377],{"type":37,"text":378},"But there's a major difference between salvaging a connector or a complete motherboard and salvaging a modern processor.",{"type":71,"attrs":380,"content":381},{"level":73},[382],{"type":37,"text":383},"They're Already Building New Hardware From Old Chips",{"type":34,"content":385},[386],{"type":37,"text":387},"Imagine a graphics card with a damaged circuit board. Maybe the power delivery has failed. Maybe the PCB is beyond economical repair. Whatever happened, the card itself is finished.",{"type":34,"content":389},[390],{"type":37,"text":391},"But the GPU? That expensive, incredibly sophisticated piece of silicon? It might still work perfectly.",{"type":34,"content":393},[394],{"type":37,"text":395},"So why should it die with the rest of the card?",{"type":34,"content":397},[398,400,404],{"type":37,"text":399},"A while ago, I watched a Gamers Nexus video about a Chinese electronics workshop rebuilding NVIDIA RTX 4090 graphics cards with ",{"type":37,"marks":401,"text":403},[402],{"type":60},"48 GB of VRAM instead of the original 24 GB",{"type":37,"text":102},{"type":34,"content":406},[407],{"type":37,"text":408},"And my jaw practically hit the floor.",{"type":34,"content":410},[411],{"type":37,"text":412},"Not because somebody managed to double the memory capacity of an already powerful graphics card, although that's impressive enough.",{"type":34,"content":414},[415],{"type":37,"text":416},"It was the workshop.",{"type":34,"content":418},[419],{"type":37,"text":420},"The equipment. The technicians. The custom circuit boards. The way they handled these ridiculously complicated components as if they were building something from a box of Lego.",{"type":34,"content":422},[423],{"type":37,"text":424},"Not literally, of course. We're talking about sophisticated BGA soldering, precision equipment, custom PCB designs, firmware modifications, and years of accumulated experience. But watching those people work, you could almost forget how complicated modern electronics have become.",{"type":34,"content":426},[427],{"type":37,"text":428},"They took a GPU, transplanted it onto another board, paired it with a different memory configuration, and built a product NVIDIA never officially offered.",{"type":34,"content":430},[431],{"type":37,"marks":432,"text":434},[433],{"type":60},"And the most beautiful part? They were doing it with technology that already existed.",{"type":34,"content":436},[437],{"type":37,"text":438},"There are plenty of questions surrounding these unofficial graphics cards, including their origins, reliability, and the legal complications of the markets where some of them are sold. But I'm not interested in defending questionable business practices.",{"type":34,"content":440},[441],{"type":37,"text":442},"I'm interested in the engineering.",{"type":34,"content":444},[445],{"type":37,"text":446},"Because that workshop demonstrated something I've been thinking about for years:",{"type":34,"content":448},[449],{"type":37,"marks":450,"text":452},[451],{"type":60},"For the right people, with the right equipment, even today's incredibly integrated electronics can become building blocks.",{"type":34,"content":454},[455],{"type":37,"text":456},"And once you start looking at them that way, the possibilities become enormous. A working motherboard recovered from a damaged Steam Deck could power a custom computer, a media center, or some wonderfully strange DIY project.",{"type":34,"content":458},[459],{"type":37,"text":460},"Processors recovered from other devices could potentially find new homes on compatible boards. Displays could become portable monitors. Cameras could become parts of security systems or experimental gadgets. Sensors, storage, wireless modules, and power electronics could be reused in countless projects.",{"type":34,"content":462},[463],{"type":37,"text":464},"Not every idea would be practical. Some would require expensive engineering, custom electronics, or documentation that manufacturers don't make available.",{"type":34,"content":466},[467],{"type":37,"text":468},"And salvaged components would need proper testing. Nobody wants to buy a supposedly refurbished product that fails after three days because somebody skipped quality control.",{"type":34,"content":470},[471,473,477],{"type":37,"text":472},"But ",{"type":37,"marks":474,"text":476},[475],{"type":60},"difficult isn't the same as impossible",{"type":37,"text":102},{"type":34,"content":479},[480],{"type":37,"text":481},"The graphics card in that video is proof that this kind of work isn't limited to a few enthusiasts imagining what they might build someday. People are already doing it.",{"type":34,"content":483},[484],{"type":37,"text":485},"They have workshops, equipment, skilled technicians, and customers willing to buy the results. And that's what excites me as a DIY enthusiast.",{"type":34,"content":487},[488],{"type":37,"text":489},"Imagine if more companies specialized in recovering valuable components from otherwise useless electronics.",{"type":34,"content":491},[492],{"type":37,"text":493},"Imagine if manufacturers made those components easier to identify, test, document, and reuse.",{"type":34,"content":495},[496],{"type":37,"text":497},"Imagine if a failed motherboard wasn't automatically the end of every expensive chip soldered onto it.",{"type":34,"content":499},[500],{"type":37,"text":501},"We don't necessarily need to invent better processors to make something useful. Sometimes we just need to stop throwing away the perfectly good ones we've already manufactured.",{"type":34,"content":503},[504],{"type":37,"marks":505,"text":507},[506],{"type":60},"A broken product doesn't have to be the end of its components' story. It could be the beginning of something completely different.",{"type":71,"attrs":509,"content":510},{"level":73},[511],{"type":37,"text":512},"Recycling Is Necessary. It Just Isn't the Whole Answer.",{"type":34,"content":514},[515],{"type":37,"text":516},"Electronic waste contains materials that should not be casually discarded, including metals that can be recovered and substances that require careful handling.",{"type":34,"content":518},[519],{"type":37,"text":520},"Responsible recycling matters enormously. And improving recycling technology is worthwhile. But here's the distinction that I think gets overlooked.",{"type":34,"content":522},[523],{"type":37,"marks":524,"text":526},[525],{"type":60},"Recycling a processor is not the same as reusing a processor.",{"type":34,"content":528},[529],{"type":37,"text":530},"When we recycle electronics for materials, we may recover some of the metals and other valuable substances inside them. That's useful.",{"type":34,"content":532},[533],{"type":37,"text":534},"But we haven't recovered the working processor as a processor.",{"type":34,"content":536},[537],{"type":37,"text":538},"We haven't recovered its original function, its architecture, or the energy and engineering effort that went into manufacturing it.",{"type":34,"content":540},[541],{"type":37,"text":542},"Producing modern semiconductors involves highly specialized equipment, complex fabrication processes, substantial energy and water use, and many stages of manufacturing.",{"type":34,"content":544},[545],{"type":37,"text":546},"A tiny chip might not look particularly impressive when you hold it between your fingers. But the industrial effort behind it is extraordinary. And when we discard a functioning chip, we aren't merely discarding a few grams of material.",{"type":34,"content":548},[549],{"type":37,"text":550},"We're potentially discarding the opportunity to use something that has already been manufactured.",{"type":34,"content":552},[553],{"type":37,"text":554},"That opportunity has value.",{"type":34,"content":556},[557],{"type":37,"text":558},"Environmental value.",{"type":34,"content":560},[561],{"type":37,"text":562},"Economic value.",{"type":34,"content":564},[565],{"type":37,"text":566},"Recycling should be what happens when continued use is no longer practical—not the first solution we reach for because a device has become inconvenient.",{"type":71,"attrs":568,"content":569},{"level":73},[570],{"type":37,"text":571},"We Waste More Than Materials",{"type":34,"content":573},[574],{"type":37,"text":575},"This is the part that makes me genuinely angry.",{"type":34,"content":577},[578],{"type":37,"text":579},"We spend enormous amounts of money and engineering effort developing better processors, more efficient memory, faster storage, smaller components, and increasingly sophisticated manufacturing processes.",{"type":108,"attrs":581},{"src":582,"alt":111,"title":112,"width":583,"height":584,"alignment":115,"displayWidth":116,"linkToOriginal":11,"mediaId":585,"caption":111,"size":116,"sources":586},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F96a733deda629f31d443f83324744271\u002Flarge.jpg",1600,900,"26",{"original":587,"thumbnail":591,"medium":594,"large":597},{"url":588,"width":589,"height":590},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F96a733deda629f31d443f83324744271\u002Foriginal.jpg",1672,941,{"url":592,"width":123,"height":593},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F96a733deda629f31d443f83324744271\u002Fthumbnail.jpg",180,{"url":595,"width":127,"height":596},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F96a733deda629f31d443f83324744271\u002Fmedium.jpg",540,{"url":582,"width":583,"height":584},{"type":34,"content":599},[600],{"type":37,"text":601},"And then we put those achievements into products that can become obsolete, unsupported, or uneconomical to repair long before their useful components have stopped working.",{"type":34,"content":603},[604],{"type":37,"text":605},"A processor that was considered powerful a few years ago might still be capable of running a media center, a retro gaming system, a home automation controller, a development machine, or some completely ridiculous DIY project.",{"type":34,"content":607},[608],{"type":37,"text":609},"But if it's trapped inside a device that cannot be repaired, repurposed, or disassembled economically, much of that potential is lost.",{"type":34,"content":611},[612],{"type":37,"text":613},"We talk constantly about innovation.",{"type":34,"content":615},[616],{"type":37,"text":617},"Faster chips. Better graphics. More computing power.",{"type":34,"content":619},[620],{"type":37,"marks":621,"text":623},[622],{"type":60},"Sometimes innovation means discovering what else we can do with something that already exists.",{"type":34,"content":625},[626],{"type":37,"text":627},"The semiconductor industry has already experienced serious supply-chain disruptions, and modern computing infrastructure requires enormous investments in hardware, energy, and raw materials.",{"type":34,"content":629},[630],{"type":37,"text":631},"I'm not claiming that salvaging old laptop processors would solve semiconductor shortages or power the next generation of AI data centers. Different applications require different technologies, and the supply chains aren't interchangeable.",{"type":34,"content":633},[634],{"type":37,"text":635},"But there's something else we rarely consider.",{"type":34,"content":637},[638],{"type":37,"marks":639,"text":641},[640],{"type":60},"We're not just wasting resources from the past. We're potentially stealing resources from the future.",{"type":34,"content":643},[644],{"type":37,"text":645},"Think about it.",{"type":34,"content":647},[648],{"type":37,"text":649},"Every processor, circuit board, battery, and display contains materials that had to be extracted, refined, transported, and manufactured into something useful.",{"type":34,"content":651},[652],{"type":37,"text":653},"Some of those materials are abundant. Others are difficult to obtain, concentrated in a handful of regions, or require enormous amounts of energy and environmental destruction to produce.",{"type":34,"content":655},[656],{"type":37,"marks":657,"text":659},[658],{"type":60},"And sometimes, the price is paid in human lives.",{"type":34,"content":661},[662],{"type":37,"text":663},"History has repeatedly shown us what can happen when valuable resources become the objects of economic competition, exploitation, and political conflict. Entire trade routes, empires, and even wars have been shaped by the struggle to control what others need. And there's no reason to assume that competition over critical resources will simply disappear in the future.",{"type":34,"content":665},[666],{"type":37,"text":667},"So when we throw away a perfectly functional component, we're not just wasting the materials inside it.",{"type":34,"content":669},[670],{"type":37,"text":671},"We're also treating the enormous human, environmental, and economic costs of obtaining those materials as if they meant nothing. And while these elements don't simply disappear from the planet when we throw away a device, recovering them from discarded electronics isn't always technically practical or economically worthwhile. So they end up scattered, mixed, buried, or otherwise unavailable for reuse.",{"type":34,"content":673},[674],{"type":37,"text":675},"Now imagine the technologies we'll want to build twenty, fifty, or a hundred years from now.",{"type":34,"content":677},[678],{"type":37,"text":679},"Technologies we haven't even invented yet.",{"type":34,"content":681},[682],{"type":37,"text":683},"What if some of those future inventions depend on materials we're casually throwing away today?",{"type":34,"content":685},[686],{"type":37,"text":687},"What if the resources needed for the next great breakthrough become increasingly expensive to obtain, while perfectly usable quantities have already been lost in mountains of electronic waste?",{"type":34,"content":689},[690],{"type":37,"text":691},"We spend enormous amounts of money developing new technologies, yet we often treat the materials inside yesterday's technology as disposable.",{"type":34,"content":693},[694],{"type":37,"text":695},"Isn't that a little absurd?",{"type":34,"content":697},[698],{"type":37,"marks":699,"text":701},[700],{"type":60},"Because every unnecessary replacement creates another demand for manufacturing, another supply chain, and eventually another disposal problem.",{"type":34,"content":703},[704],{"type":37,"text":705},"And perhaps, somewhere in that discarded hardware, we're throwing away resources that a future generation of engineers would have loved to get their hands on. If a device can continue providing useful service, or its components can become part of something new, why wouldn't we at least consider that possibility before replacing it?",{"type":34,"content":707},[708],{"type":37,"marks":709,"text":711},[710],{"type":60},"The next generation of innovation shouldn't have to pay for our generation's habit of throwing everything away.",{"type":71,"attrs":713,"content":714},{"level":73},[715],{"type":37,"text":716},"We're Part of the Problem, Too",{"type":34,"content":718},[719],{"type":37,"text":720},"Now comes the uncomfortable part.",{"type":34,"content":722},[723],{"type":37,"text":724},"It's easy to blame manufacturers. And sometimes they deserve it.",{"type":34,"content":726},[727],{"type":37,"text":728},"But we're not entirely innocent.",{"type":34,"content":730},[731],{"type":37,"text":732},"Technology marketing has become remarkably good at convincing us that last year's perfectly functional device is somehow embarrassing. A slightly faster processor, a somewhat brighter screen. A camera improvement that most people won't notice outside a comparison video.",{"type":34,"content":734},[735],{"type":37,"text":736},"And here's the funny part: where do most of those photos and videos end up?",{"type":34,"content":738},[739],{"type":37,"text":740},"Social media.",{"type":34,"content":742},[743],{"type":37,"text":744},"Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and countless other platforms routinely resize, recompress, or otherwise process uploaded images and videos to reduce bandwidth and storage requirements.",{"type":34,"content":746},[747],{"type":37,"text":748},"So we buy increasingly expensive smartphones with incredible cameras, obsess over megapixels and tiny improvements in image quality, and then upload the results to platforms that throw away much of that extra image data.",{"type":34,"content":750},[751],{"type":37,"marks":752,"text":754},[753],{"type":60},"Congratulations. You've upgraded your camera so Instagram can compress your photos to the same quality.",{"type":34,"content":756},[757],{"type":37,"text":758},"Of course, better sensors, lenses, and image processing can still make a visible difference, even after compression. And some people genuinely need those improvements.",{"type":34,"content":760},[761],{"type":37,"text":762},"But for someone who mostly takes casual photos and shares them on social media, is that slightly better camera really worth replacing an otherwise perfectly functional phone?",{"type":108,"attrs":764},{"src":765,"alt":111,"title":112,"width":583,"height":766,"alignment":115,"displayWidth":116,"linkToOriginal":11,"mediaId":767,"caption":111,"size":116,"sources":768},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F0624dced0bb2b27f3309135e96ac7df1\u002Flarge.jpg",896,"27",{"original":769,"thumbnail":773,"medium":776,"large":780},{"url":770,"width":771,"height":772},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F0624dced0bb2b27f3309135e96ac7df1\u002Foriginal.jpg",1676,939,{"url":774,"width":123,"height":775},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F0624dced0bb2b27f3309135e96ac7df1\u002Fthumbnail.jpg",179,{"url":777,"width":778,"height":779},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.techmerc.eu\u002Fmedia\u002Ffiles\u002F0624dced0bb2b27f3309135e96ac7df1\u002Fmedium.jpg",959,537,{"url":765,"width":583,"height":766},{"type":34,"content":782},[783],{"type":37,"text":784},"It's easy to call a manufacturer terrible. But companies don't manufacture products just to admire them sitting in warehouses. They manufacture products because somebody buys them.",{"type":34,"content":786},[787],{"type":37,"marks":788,"text":790},[789],{"type":60},"If we keep rewarding poor quality, unnecessary upgrades, and disposable designs with our money, why should we be surprised when companies continue selling them?",{"type":34,"content":792},[793],{"type":37,"text":794},"Of course, customers don't always have better alternatives, and we can't expect everyone to become an electronics engineer before buying a toaster.",{"type":34,"content":796},[797],{"type":37,"text":798},"But when we do have a choice, that choice matters. We can research a product's reliability. We can look for repair information. We can consider whether a secondhand device would meet our needs.",{"type":34,"content":800},[801],{"type":37,"text":802},"And we can stop treating a familiar logo as a guarantee of quality.",{"type":34,"content":804},[805],{"type":37,"text":806},"I don't believe in declaring a manufacturer good or bad forever. I believe in judging products by what they actually offer, how much they're costs, how they're built, how long they're supported, and what happens when something breaks.",{"type":34,"content":808},[809],{"type":37,"text":810},"I can criticize a design decision without hating the company that made it. And I can change my mind when a better product comes along.",{"type":34,"content":812},[813],{"type":37,"marks":814,"text":816},[815],{"type":60},"Anger might be what starts the conversation, but it isn't what solves the problem.",{"type":34,"content":818},[819],{"type":37,"text":820},"If the new product solves a real problem, offers something you genuinely want, or enables an experience you couldn't have before, buy it.",{"type":34,"content":822},[823],{"type":37,"text":824},"I'm not going to tell somebody that purchasing a gaming console because they want to play a particular game is an environmental crime.",{"type":34,"content":826},[827],{"type":37,"text":828},"That would be absurd. I buy technology because I enjoy technology.",{"type":34,"content":830},[831],{"type":37,"text":832},"But there's a difference between buying something because you have a reason to use it and buying something because marketing has successfully made you dissatisfied with what you already own.",{"type":34,"content":834},[835],{"type":37,"text":836},"And there's an even bigger difference between replacing a device and throwing the old one away.",{"type":34,"content":838},[839],{"type":37,"text":840},"If your old computer still works, somebody else might be delighted to have it.",{"type":842,"content":843},"bulletList",[844,851,857,863,869,875],{"type":845,"content":846},"listItem",[847],{"type":34,"content":848},[849],{"type":37,"text":850},"Sell it.",{"type":845,"content":852},[853],{"type":34,"content":854},[855],{"type":37,"text":856},"Give it away.",{"type":845,"content":858},[859],{"type":34,"content":860},[861],{"type":37,"text":862},"Donate it.",{"type":845,"content":864},[865],{"type":34,"content":866},[867],{"type":37,"text":868},"Turn it into a server.",{"type":845,"content":870},[871],{"type":34,"content":872},[873],{"type":37,"text":874},"Build something weird.",{"type":845,"content":876},[877],{"type":34,"content":878},[879],{"type":37,"text":880},"I don't care whether you make money from it. (yeah thats an element in the list too)",{"type":34,"content":882},[883],{"type":37,"marks":884,"text":886},[885],{"type":60},"The point is to keep useful technology useful.",{"type":34,"content":888},[889],{"type":37,"text":890},"And if it doesn't work, consider whether it can be repaired or whether its components could still serve another purpose.",{"type":34,"content":892},[893],{"type":37,"marks":894,"text":896},[895],{"type":60},"We can't complain about disposable technology forever while enthusiastically buying the next disposable thing.",{"type":71,"attrs":898,"content":899},{"level":73},[900],{"type":37,"text":901},"What If Longevity Were Good Business?",{"type":34,"content":903},[904],{"type":37,"text":905},"There's another uncomfortable question worth considering.",{"type":34,"content":907},[908],{"type":37,"text":909},"What if manufacturers could make more money by keeping products working longer?",{"type":34,"content":911},[912],{"type":37,"text":913},"Today, selling a replacement is often an obvious way for a company to generate revenue. But imagine business models that rewarded manufacturers for reliable hardware, affordable maintenance, refurbishment, and component recovery.",{"type":34,"content":915},[916],{"type":37,"text":917},"Service contracts or long-term leasing might work in some situations. So could stronger repair support, spare-parts availability, take-back programs, and markets for verified reclaimed components.",{"type":34,"content":919},[920],{"type":37,"text":921},"I admit that the idea of subscribing to my television gives me chills.",{"type":34,"content":923},[924],{"type":37,"text":925},"The last thing I want is another monthly payment for something sitting in my living room. And a subscription certainly doesn't guarantee sustainability. A company could use it to lock customers in, restrict repairs, or encourage even faster replacement cycles.",{"type":34,"content":927},[928],{"type":37,"text":929},"But the underlying question is still worth asking:",{"type":34,"content":931},[932],{"type":37,"marks":933,"text":935},[934],{"type":60},"How do we make keeping technology alive more profitable than throwing it away?",{"type":34,"content":937},[938],{"type":37,"text":939},"I don't have a perfect answer. I just think it's a question worth asking.",{"type":71,"attrs":941,"content":942},{"level":73},[943],{"type":37,"text":944},"What Can We Actually Do?",{"type":34,"content":946},[947],{"type":37,"text":948},"I don't want to finish this article by complaining about corporations, shaking my fist at a pile of circuit boards, and then going shopping for a new GPU.",{"type":34,"content":950},[951],{"type":37,"text":952},"Well, I might still go shopping for a GPU.",{"type":34,"content":954},[955],{"type":37,"text":956},"But you get the point. There are things we can do without waiting for the entire electronics industry to change.",{"type":34,"content":958},[959,963],{"type":37,"marks":960,"text":962},[961],{"type":60},"Repair what makes sense to repair.",{"type":37,"text":964}," Not every repair is practical, affordable, or safe, but at least consider it. Support repair services and products designed to be maintained.",{"type":34,"content":966},[967,971],{"type":37,"marks":968,"text":970},[969],{"type":60},"Keep useful hardware in circulation.",{"type":37,"text":972}," Sell it, donate it, give it away, or find another use for it. Secondhand isn't a dirty word.",{"type":34,"content":974},[975,979],{"type":37,"marks":976,"text":978},[977],{"type":60},"Salvage components where practical.",{"type":37,"text":980}," A device that cannot be repaired may still contain working parts. Recover them responsibly, test them properly, and sell them or use them again.",{"type":34,"content":982},[983,987],{"type":37,"marks":984,"text":986},[985],{"type":60},"Recycle what genuinely has no practical second life.",{"type":37,"text":988}," Recycling remains essential. It simply shouldn't be our only answer.",{"type":34,"content":990},[991,995],{"type":37,"marks":992,"text":994},[993],{"type":60},"Think before upgrading.",{"type":37,"text":996}," You don't need to apologize for enjoying technology. Just ask whether the new device offers something you actually want or need.",{"type":34,"content":998},[999,1001,1005],{"type":37,"text":1000},"And perhaps most importantly, ",{"type":37,"marks":1002,"text":1004},[1003],{"type":60},"don't automatically accept that repairability and longevity are unimportant features",{"type":37,"text":102},{"type":34,"content":1007},[1008],{"type":37,"text":1009},"Talk about them. Ask manufacturers about them. Consider them when choosing what to buy.",{"type":34,"content":1011},[1012],{"type":37,"text":1013},"Because companies pay attention to what customers value.... Maybe not immediately. Maybe not as much as we'd like.",{"type":34,"content":1015},[1016],{"type":37,"text":1017},"But demand matters.",{"type":71,"attrs":1019,"content":1020},{"level":73},[1021],{"type":37,"text":1022},"Hardware Worth Saving.",{"type":34,"content":1024},[1025],{"type":37,"text":1026},"I still remember being a kid and being told to turn off the tap. Back then, it was about money. Today, when I tell my own children the same thing, it's about something else.",{"type":34,"content":1028},[1029],{"type":37,"text":1030},"Water has value even when you can afford the bill.",{"type":34,"content":1032},[1033],{"type":37,"text":1034},"Electricity has value even when you can afford to leave the lights on.",{"type":34,"content":1036},[1037],{"type":37,"text":1038},"And a processor has value even when you can afford a newer one.",{"type":34,"content":1040},[1041],{"type":37,"text":1042},"I'm not asking everyone to become an electronics engineer, spend their weekends repairing broken televisions, or build a cyberdeck out of a dead gaming handheld. ( Although, if you do build that cyberdeck, please show me. )",{"type":34,"content":1044},[1045],{"type":37,"text":1046},"I'm asking for something simpler.",{"type":34,"content":1048},[1049],{"type":37,"text":1050},"When a piece of technology stops doing what it was originally designed to do, don't automatically assume it has nothing left to offer. Maybe it can be repaired. Maybe somebody else can use it. Maybe its components can become part of something completely different. And maybe, eventually, recycling really is the best remaining option.",{"type":34,"content":1052},[1053],{"type":37,"text":1054},"But we should reach that conclusion because we've considered the alternatives—not because throwing things away has become our default response.",{"type":34,"content":1056},[1057],{"type":37,"text":1058},"We spend extraordinary resources creating technology.",{"type":34,"content":1060},[1061],{"type":37,"text":1062},"We should put at least a little imagination into what happens to it afterward.",{"type":34,"content":1064},[1065],{"type":37,"marks":1066,"text":1068},[1067],{"type":60},"A device's useful life shouldn't end just because its original purpose does.",{"type":34,"content":1070},[1071],{"type":37,"text":1072},"Perhaps it's time we started saving some hardware, too.",{"type":34,"content":1074},[1075],{"type":37,"text":1076},"Well, that turned out to be a pretty good article, right, Tyler?",1792494583009]