I’ve been thinking more and more about e‑waste lately watching perfectly good electronics get tossed into the trash every single day.
Take disposable vapes, for example.
Inside almost every one of them is a fully functional 3.7V lithium‑ion cell.
Rechargeable. Reusable. The same chemistry that powers phones, controllers, and power banks.
Yet millions of these batteries end up in landfills because the device looks like trash.
I’ve been harvesting the cells from my old vapes and turning them into power banks and portable chargers and ect. It blows my mind how much usable tech we throw away just because it’s wrapped in a “disposable” shell.
And it’s not just vapes:
- headphones
- old remotes
- broken controllers
- cheap gadgets
- e‑toys
- USB battery packs
- kitchen appliances
Most of this stuff contains components that can be repaired, reused, or upcycled into something new.
So here’s my question for the community:
Why aren’t we talking more about upcycling e‑waste?
Is it lack of awareness? Lack of tools?
Or do people just not realize how much value is hiding inside “trash”?
I'm not naive and know that Companies make things intentionally unrepairable, but I’d love to hear from others who repair, harvest parts, or upcycle electronics.
What do you rescue from the waste stream — and what do you turn it into?
Top comments (8)
Do you have a guide to share on how to do this?
no, mainly because I'm still not the best at it and i don't feel comfortable giving bad info, but i might give it a try I'm also not the most confident lols 😊
Yes, from an environmental perspective, it's a big problem. Some people throw away good things, others only throw away old things, and then there are those who can't part with junk. I know quite a few people who value old things and can't part with them, and from an outside perspective, this can seem like some kind of serious psychological disorder. I think it's better to draw clear boundaries between trash and functional items, but not allow yourself to get to that point, in short.
very well said i didn't think to talk about that. i have known lots of people who cant part with old things or just "things" with that i think its a great start especially on a personal level I'm super passionate about this topic thanks for your reply😊
I am also tired of this - I had this hand-held vacuum - LiIon Battery died, but no replaceable battery pack. I also once in a while see them in the trash room of our building - I salvage parts and I got a spot welder and replacement batteries. I get many years of useful life out of it. The main reason we don't do this more is probably just convenience. I also started harvesting electronics for basic parts that I can use for electronics projects with my kids - LEDs, resistors, buzzers etc.
Also, replacing LiIon batteries and wiring them properly takes a bit of learning - there is a fine line between a cool maker project and a catastrophic fire in a residential building. LiIon batteries have a lot of Oomph.
this is so cool, i love doing things like that and since i was little self taught what i know but it is great and verry necessary because it gets super dangerous and i think its cool to teach others😅
This is such an under-discussed topic.
We laugh at JavaScript fatigue and framework churn, but there's a real cost not just in learning time, but in throwing away working knowledge. I've seen teams rewrite perfectly functional services in the new hotness only to end up with the same bugs, new complexity, and months of lost time.
The thing is, perfectly good doesn't mean perfect. It means it works, people know it, and the trade-offs are understood. There's real value in that.
I think part of why we do this is career-driven. Migrated legacy system to X looks better on a promo doc than maintained stable system for 3 years. The incentives are misaligned.
That said, sometimes the new thing actually is better. The hard part is telling the difference between genuine progress and marketing-driven churn.
What's an example of perfectly good tech you've seen thrown away that still makes you angry (or at least annoyed)?
Thanks for writing this — needed to be said. 🙌
thanks a ton and well said, off of the top of my head is DVRs if that's the right name, there's mass amounts of storage tossed just because people don't realize the internal hard rives are extractable and reusable whether you use a hard drive doc or plug it in directly but thats just one thing off the top of my head😅