When an electronic appliance breaks, the first reaction that many of us will have is to throw that broken gadget in the trash. In fact, many landfill sites are now full of broken TVs and computers and phones. In many cases, whilst they may be broken, such appliances can often be reused either profit or personal benefit. Here are just a few ways of using your old broken gadget.
Repair
Modern tech is impossible to fix ourselves and most of us may assume that it’s impossible to find a repair service. However, there are in fact many companies online that specialise in iPhone repair and fixing other appliances.
Fixing this gadget may allow you to then sell the item onto someone else and make a bit of money. Even old phones can be sold for cash – parents looking for first phones for their children will often buy such phones. Second-hand sites such as Gumtree and Facebook buy and sell pages are good places to sell this tech. You can even donate your old tech to a good cause – there are many people in the third world that may want a phone or computer regardless of its age.
Alternatively, you may want to keep onto the gadget and use it as a spare. An old phone could be handy for use an emergency phone when going on holiday. An old laptop meanwhile could be given to children to use for homework, so that you can still use your computer in the evenings if you need to.
Sell for Parts
Another option for dealing with broken appliances is to sell them for parts. Whilst certain components may be broken, other parts could be recycled and re-used in the manufacture and repair of other devices. There are many online companies that buy computers and other gadgets for parts whether you are using high street gadget shops or online trade-in stores lik Plunc. If you have the know-how, you can even disassemble the gadget yourself and sell parts individually for a greater profit.
Repurpose
If you’re creative minded, you may be able to find ways to repurpose some of your old items. Even I some parts are broken, other parts may still function, and with a bit of technical know-how could be transformed into something else.
Computer fans, for example, can be extracted and transformed into desk fans. This can cost a lot less than buying a brand new fan for your desk, whilst still being just as effective.
Others have found ways of converting old electronic parts into jewelry. There are rings selling on the internet made out of keyboard keys and bracelets made out of SIM cards. Creating such geeky bling could make for a great business strategy for someone with spare time on their hands.
Some people have even transformed old television sets into goldfish tanks and computer towers into mailboxes. Get intuitive and see what you can come up with.