Hobbyist rescues $500 of RAM from local landfill — a "major haul" exposes our throwaway culture during one of the worst hardware shortages ever

It's a bad time to be a PC hobbyist. Hardware prices, especially memory and storage, have spiked in recent months due to AI demand, and the fallout is extending to a lot of other PC components. This is forcing hobbyists to get extra crafty when it comes to sourcing new hardware.

I don't think I've ever visited an e-waste recycling center and NOT come away shocked at what's being tossed out, and despite the current squeeze on hardware, I don't suspect it's getting much better. Such is the case for one Reddit user who came away with a "major score at the dump" this past weekend.

On their regular trip to the town's landfill to check for older components, they stumbled on a goldmine. Not only did they save a five-bay Drobo NAS, a Samsung monitor, a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU with cooler, an ASUS motherboard, and "a few other odds and ends" from annihilation, but they also scored two 32GB DDR4 RAM modules.

Who is throwing out 64GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 RAM in this economy?! A quick check of Newegg this morning shows a used 2x32GB kit of the same Corsair DDR4 RAM retailing for $500. The Reddit user shared an image showing the RAM lit up and (assumedly) running fine in a test PC.

Major score at the dump today!!! from r/pcmasterrace

For some additional background info, the Reddit user says they live in a town of about 8,000 people. The local landfill includes an e-waste recycling container, and the components they salvaged were just sitting out in the open.

Most recycling depots in larger urban regions won't allow similar scavenging, for better or for worse. It's a shame considering how much perfectly usable hardware is thrown away on a daily basis, but then again, landfills and recycling depots don't need a horde of PC enthusiasts descending on their operations in the hopes of scoring some cheap free parts.

It's estimated by some experts that less than a quarter of all e-waste is properly recycled (as of 2022), which leaves billions of dollars of hardware and precious minerals just sitting around. At the world's current pace, e-waste is growing by about 2.6 million tons per year, and is expected to hit 82 million tons by 2030.

Whether or not the ongoing "RAMageddon" and its fallout significantly influence these stats remains to be seen, but I can certainly see a future where a lot of old hardware that would normally be destined for a landfill gets upcycled into new PCs and projects. At least, one can hope.

What's the best score you've ever found at a recycling center or landfill? Let me know in the comments section!

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