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What’s inside of a computer hard drive? Some pretty neat stuff including a precision electric motor and some very powerful magnets. The entire drive is well machined with extremely tight tolerances. The back side is home to a circuit board (controller) that has many small surface mount components. Other items in a drive include the drive platters and some silica gel absorbent to keep the delicate parts free of moisture. 

Computer monitors are a mix of hazards as they not only contain a substantial amount of lead, but stored energy as well. Even after the monitor has not been used, as much as 15,000 volts of stored electricity may be waiting for an unsuspecting technician. So, what of value is inside the monitor? A little bit of insulated copper wire, bare copper wire, a circuit board, ferrite, and the glass CRT tube. Like most computer related products, the plastic case is made of an impact resistant compound that must be recycled differently than other common types of plastic. The computer monitor is considered one of the most hazardous items to recycle. 

A VCR is an interesting mix of mechanical and electronic technologies including finely machined gears, pulleys, levers, switches and motors. Fortunately these mechanical nightmares are on their way out! The best way to recycle them is by shredding then sorting out the steel, copper, plastic, electronic components and other materials. 

What is the biggest thing we have ever recycled? Probably an x-ray machine, similar to the one shown here. Weighing over 2 tons, it was mostly composed of steel and aluminum. It also included a mile or so of wire, a big power supply and a mixed bag of electronic controls. It took a two man crew almost a week to totally dismantle it by hand.