What do Cypriots do with their old laptops, tablets, mobile phones?

[memory man]

"What do you do with yours?"

Cypriots choose to keep their old laptops, tablets, mobile phones, smartphones and desktop computers at home rather than dispose, recycle or give them away, according to a recent survey by Eurostat.

The data presented comes from the 2022 edition of the survey on the use of Information and communication technology in European households and by individuals.

Specifically, one in five people (19%) in the EU kept their desktops at home, 13% of people recycled their old desktops, 8% gave them away or sold them and 2% threw them away.

The rest of the respondents either never bought desktops, continue to use their existing devices or have done other things with them.

According to Eurostat data, Sweden has the highest percentage of people (29%) who recycle old desktops, ahead of the Netherlands (27%), while Finland, Denmark and Austria were all close to 20%. In Cyprus the figure is only 3.7%.

The highest percentage of people recycling their old laptops or tablets was seen in Sweden, Finland and Denmark, almost 18% of people, followed by Greece (17%) and Croatia (15%) which reported the highest percentages of people who gave or sold their old laptop or tablet to someone else.In Cyprus the figure is 5.7%.

According to Eurostat, old laptops and tablets were also mostly kept in the household (33%). Again, only 10% of people in the EU recycled their old laptops or tablets, 11% gave them away or sold them and 1% threw them away.

https://in-cyprus.philenews.com/local/w ... le-phones/

[Devil]

Interesting, but not surprising. In this area, we have a rubbish collection centre with 20 odd bins but the one for electrical/electronic material never seems to fill. I admit that, although I do dispose of totally useless WEEE correctly in the bin, I do hoard some old stuff "which may come in useful someday"!

[Dominic]

With old laptops etc there is a privacy issue I guess. Ok, you can reset to factory default etc, but only if the laptop is working in the first place. If your laptop conks out and you buy a new one to replace it, in order to clear off your data from the old one you need to remove the hard disk etc. Not everybody can do this. And with newer models, it is often difficult even to find the hard disk!

[memory man]

I did notice last week when I was in CYTA in Neon Mall
that they have a bin for disposing of mobile phones.

[Devil]

if you have anything with a hard disk, there are a number of ways of dealing with it.

Firstly, if it is visible, simply drill a hole through it, halfway between the centre and the outside. Another way, if you can, subject it to an intense magnetic field. Thirdly, you can give or take it to a shop or specialist with a magnetic eraser. Another sure way is with a heavy sledgehammer!

This assumes that the hard disk drive is exactly that, with a hard disk. The problem could arise where your device has electronic storage. In that case, the best answer would be to take it to a specialist, especially if you cannot identify it from the rest of the electronics.