My complicated plan for getting a trailer-load of trash to the landfill went off without a hitch. Asked the guy at the gate where I should unload the panels – he said there was too much glass for the scrapyard, so just dump them with the rest.
Didn’t seem quite right, to be honest. I know it’s silly but I get a little sentimental about gear that’s done me a lot of good service. These were definitely done, had in fact lasted a good deal longer than you really expect old multi-crystalline panels to go*, and I was happy to replace them – but I kind of felt like a heel just leaving them leaning against a wall of garbage. Plus it makes me wonder just how toxic your average landfill really is…
—-
*Once they turn brown, they’re done. Don’t know why they do that but they do.
Did you by any chance scan the “trash heap” for useful items? Where I come from places like that aren’t so much “dumps” as “swap meets”.
There have been occasions when I took home more than I had deposited.
Once I picked up a pair of two-door metal four-shelf cabinets that I cleaned up at the car wash on the way home and have served as my tool cabinets ever since. 🙂
“You picked a bad time to leave me, Lucille. Four hungry children and a crop in the field…”
I’ve had some sad times, and lived through some bad times, but your panels wont even ring the chimes”
I’ll bet that somebody grabbed that aluminum framing off of the panels. At least, I hope so.
Where I live, I try to put anything with salvage value out on the street a day before the regular collection. Often it’s gone within the hour, picked up by random individuals who either re-use the item or take it to a scrapyard for actual money. I find that to be a more satisfying type of recycling.
Kentucky: ROGER THAT!!