Have you noticed a big change in computers over the last few years?

We’re not talking about the fact that DVD/CD drives have disappeared from most of them – even though that is true. Nor are we talking about the fact that there is no longer a place to plug in an ethernet cable. 

In the world of gaming, old consoles and controllers quickly become obsolete. The result is that the old gaming equipment you have lying around can be a good source of gold you can recycle. The trick is knowing where to look. 

With the holidays coming soon, are you hoping to receive a spanking-new digital camera as a gift? Or have you decided that the camera that is in your smartphone has gotten so powerful that you no longer need to own a digital camera?

In either case, the result is probably the same . . .

Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs or MLCC chips), which are small electronic components made of alternating ceramic and metallic layers, can be found in many applications today.

If you take a look at your computer and work area, you will notice a major trend that has changed just about everything about the way you work, store data, use software, store videos and pictures, and more . . .

Most of what you do is now taking place on the cloud, not on your computer and local storage devices

If you are replacing the central air conditioning in an older home, apartment building or factory, here’s something important to keep in mind . . .

Don’t toss parts of your old system that contain gold, silver, or valuable non-precious metals like copper and aluminum

It seems that everything about cars is changing today, usually moving to apps. You want a ride somewhere, you fire up an app. You want to buy a car? Ditto. And if you want to scrap a car or donate it to a charity, you can manage all the details online and before you know it, a tow truck shows up and hauls your car away.

After Hanukah and Christmas, most people have tons of stuff to toss out and recycle. Whether you live in a residential neighborhood or an apartment building, you know the scene. Recyclable wrapping paper, ribbons and other “stuff” get hauled to the curb or put in receptacles.

It’s a good idea to collect large quantities of little smartphones that were made in the last five years – batches of 50, 100 or more – and send them to us to be recycled. The same is true for remotes. But let’s face realities. In order to make a good return on having us recycle them for you, you need a lot of them.

An article in The New York Times on September 28th (“There’s Gold in Them Thar Braes”) reports that a new gold rush is currently taking place in Scotland. That’s right, Scotland. Stephen Castle, who wrote the article, notes that during the 19th century, several gold rushes took place in Scotland that rivaled the famous gold rushes of the 1840s in the New World, which attracted tens of thousands of gold prospectors to California and Alaska.

Before you toss your old cellphone, TV remote, laptop, or tablet, remember that they contain gold. Although those small devices don’t contain immense quantities of gold, you don’t want to throw gold away, do you? So before you toss them, give our precious metal recycling consultants a call at 800-426-2344 and we can explain your recycling options.

When was the last time you lifted the hood of a car that was made in the 1960s? Let’s say, a 1965 Ford Mustang? If it’s been a while, you might have forgotten that on cars that old, electrical components were pretty minimal. There were a battery, distributor cap, spark plugs, and wires running to headlights and other electrical devices. Not too much electrical activity going on.

Would you believe that Bob Dylan wrote the song, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” way back in 1964? Ever since then, the times have been changing year by year, and there is no doubt about that.

But today, 56 years later, Dylan’s song seems to have become completely true. Suddenly, the world has changed in ways that we would never have predicted only five or six years ago.

Your husband gives you a new tablet for Chanukah. Or you get a new gaming console for Junior as a Christmas gift.

There’s no doubt about it. The holidays are the time of year when older electronic devices get replaced by new ones – often dozens of them at a time. And you have a choice. You could stick all your old devices in your dresser drawer, or you could gather them up and send them to Specialty Metals Smelters and refiners and have us recover the gold, platinum and silver they contain. Before you dismiss this suggestion because you have only five or six items, let us ask you a question . . .

In the past, we have written about all the places where gold can be found in cars. Just for a quick review, it can be found in onboard computers and other electronic devices that have been used to monitor and control . . .

The answer may surprise you

Today, everybody you see seems to be staring at a mobile phone. About 15 years ago, every adult you saw was poking away at a Blackberry and every kid you saw was listening to music on an iPad or other portable music player.

We were in an electronics store recently, where we saw a small electronic device lying next to a cash register. We asked a salesman, “What is that thing that looks like a tiny cellphone?”

If you’re clearing out an electronics store or supplier, you have good opportunities to find precious metals – most often gold – in many kinds of electronic devices.

If you have visited the Statue of Liberty or another tourist destination lately, you have noticed that hardly anybody is using digital cameras these days. Five years ago you would have seen all those tourists taking snapshots with small cameras made by Olympus, Sony, and other companies. Today, nearly all those pix are being shot using smartphones.

In case you think that scrapped computers and other old electronic devices are hard to find and send to us to be recycled, we’d like to direct your attention to statistics that were recently reported in “Electronic Waste by Numbers: Recycling & the World,” an article that was posted on March 12, 2016 on ewaste.com. Every year, vast quantities of electronic waste are tossed away. Here are some eye-opening statistics…