Where to dump computers?

[RichardCranium]

I dismantle the hard drives. Any metal plates go in the metal recycling. Any interesting bits (springs, heads, wheels, cogs) go in my wargaming bitz box. Circuit boards go in the bin. The platters get extracted and mounted for display.

[xoggoth]

Got rid of a couple of ancient PCs out of the attic last week. Those hard disc drives sure are tough, take a lot of bashing.

[Clippy]

You could drop your laptop off to your nearest O2 shop who will ensure it is recycled - details.

[Sysman]

WTS on destroying the hard drives. A lot of recycled computers end up in Africa.

Or maybe just Chavland

[bogeyman]

I drill through the case, platens and chassis in two places with a 5mm bit.

Recover the data from that!

[lilelvis2000]

I'd wipe the disk...or if you're really paranoid, keep it. and give the machine to a local charity. We have one charity here that's constantly asking for old machines. Shoot...the machine I have that runs DOVECOT, DHCP, DNS, RAID, Samba et al is a machine I bought from a charity!

[Bright Spark]

If you can access the hard drive or still boot the pc then use Kill Disk to wipe the information off,
alternatively send the pc/laptop to computeraid, but I would personally make sure the disk and data has been wiped securely
before sending it anywhere.

[dang65]

That sounds good. Cheers!

[Pondlife]

Remove the hard drives and take the rest to the local council run recycling centre.

Google for a list of amusing ways to trash the drives.

[ThomasSoerensen]

smash the harddrives with a hammer untill you get to the rotating plate - then smash that with a hammer untill it is a fine powder.

You can then chuck away the powder - or snort it if you are so inclined - and chuck the rest of the pc-bits (get the pun?) in the trash can - then ask your mother to take out the trash.

[dang65]

I have a very old laptop and a very old desktop PC, both of which have completely given up the ghost and don't work any more. I had just dumped them in my shed but I want to get rid of them completely now. I checked the council website and Google and all they say is to give old PCs to charities because they can find a use for them.

Thing is, these ones are, I'm sure, useless. I even took the laptop to the computer shop to try and recover some old files and they sent it away and came back later to say it would cost something like 300 quid to recover anything. A second shop I tried said they couldn't get anything off the machine at all.

Basically, I want to dump both machines but obviously make sure they are wiped of any personal data (if that is even possible?) and do it in a legal way. Any ideas?