[CONTEST ENDED] Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: a Gently Used Contest

[MeredithW]

UPDATE: This contest has ended — huge thanks to everyone who shared their recycling photos and stories! Congrats to our randomly selected Meraki socks winners: @IanH, @Ensposito, @TMRoberts, and @Andrewbluepiano. 

It’s National Recycling Day here in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to recycle our favorite way to celebrate holidays: a contest!

In a time when we’re embracing the reduce, reuse, recycle maxim more than ever, it’s not just about proper disposal anymore. It’s about creative repurposing in delightful ways, e.g. artisan deck chairs made of reclaimed wood or coffee tables made of responsibly-sourced found objects. It’s about this truly amazing wireshark made of old cables that @Nash crocheted in flourish of brilliance:

Thanks @Nash! Read her shark-tale here.

For this contest, we want to see your creative repurposing of old, busted, or just plain tired tech into brand new, re-envisioned masterpieces. That VCR that’s never giving back your VHS copy of Roadhouse? Now it’s a mid-century modern door stop that’s elevating your apartment vibe. That iPhone 5 that you can’t bring yourself to ditch? Slap on some duct tape and a live-streaming app and you’ve got yourself a 24/7 live feed of your cat. If you don’t have photo evidence or if you have only grand plans at this stage, you can also just describe your ideal tech repurposing project.

How to Win

In a comment on this post, submit your repurposed or upcycled tech as an image or via a brief description and be entered to win swag. Submit your entry on this blog post before 11 a.m. PST on Wednesday, November 20th (11/20/2019). We’ll then draw four at random to win a pair of Meraki socks! Your entries will be public and visible throughout the contest.

Terms & conditions

• Limit one entry per community member.
• Submission period: Friday, November 15th, 2019 at 11am PDT through Wednesday, November 20th, 2019 at 10:59am PDT
• Prize will be a selection of Meraki swag with value not exceeding USD 50.00
• Official terms, conditions, and eligibility information

[Ensposito]

National recycling day?  I'm not in the US, but we try to make everyday a recycling day, and better yet, reduce and reuse day.  I've made it a point to extend the lives of all our machines by swapping out parts (SSD's for spinners), adding memory, etc to make a better experience for the user without purchasing everything new.  One of my greatest achievements is repurposing two old W600 HP workstations and a Proliant DL360 to become my most commented on coffee table.  

[Andrewbluepiano]

I have a PowerMac G4 that I have converted into a carrying case. Fill it with various things depending on where I'm going, tools, whatnot. Very useful. 

Edit:

~The speaker works, cut up and wired in an aux cable. Plans to add an amplifier.

~The components are safe and sound, and work fine. Vintage Mac collector, and this was a model I had 2 of, so I stripped it. 

[2020media]

I don't mean to offend but I think Meraki are one of the worst culprita by making their devices locked to an organisation - they cannot be reused once that organisation stops licencing them (unless they remember to remove the device from their network first. When organisations are going out of business or just clearing out old systems it's not high on their priority to do that!) Please consider making your hardware more recyclable!

[Michael_Venema]

I found a Hard Drive from the 80's when we were cleaning out our old storage room. Now it's artwork for my cubicle.

HDD Art 🤔

 

[cwf]

That's crazy talk! Who would throw out old tech?

[joopv]

I have personally given many pieces of Cisco hardware a new life by rescueing them from a schredder-death, cleaning, testing and giving them a new life to CCNA/CCNP student's lab enviroment.

I really wish the same could be done easily for Meraki equipment....

[TMRoberts]

In our workplace we take older machines out of circulation, factory wipe and either reload with Windows or install Ubuntu and then install useful freeware like LibreOffice, Firefox and AVG free and donate to a local homeless shelter as they have families there a lot of the time who still have kids that need to do homework, individuals that need to do paperwork etc. This gives them the opportunity to do all that without taking money away from the shelter. Other outdated equipment like switches and routers etc go to them as well.

Other computers I personally have as I upgrade them or cycle them out of my personal use go to some family members who we have that are underprivileged, one is a family with 5 kids that need help so even if they only get a years use out of it it's less they need to spend when they need it for other things like food, clothes etc.

Recycling stuff isn't always about getting rid of things it's also repurposing them, just because I or the company I work for can't or doesn't need or want them doesn't mean someone else can't still make some use of it.

[Micronet]

Nice thought. You people made a real purpose for recycling. this is something good which deserves more encouragement and appreciation. All the best Brother...

[BrechtSchamp]

I simply refuse to throw away things if I can fix them. I'm not always succesfull but very often I am. I love tinkering with electronics. A couple of examples: My surround audio receiver is a broken one that I bought and fixed. I had to replace 2 capacitors. Such an easy repair and very satisfying. The volume control on my desktop speakers is very prone to failure, had to repair it multiple times. Honestly, that volume know is bad design. But they've been lasting for much longer than they're meant to. Our handheld vacuum is also a broken one that I fixed. It was a simple mechanical fault with the on-off switch. Again, so simple and very satisfying. I recently bought two broken Nintendo GBA SP's. One had a broken charge port, the other had a faulty screen. I combined the two and have now a perfect retro-gaming machine. Back when I still lived at home I fixed my parents' electronics many times. Had to replace multiple screens on their smartphones. Replaced the motherboard in their TV. Fixed the hometrainer. It often takes very little effort to fix something. Give it a try! If you fail you've likely learned something new, and at least you tried. If you're not too sure, try to find a repair café near you and have someone help you. Also, if you really don't want to spend time on it, but you think something can be fixed, put it up for free on a craigslist or facebook marketplace for someone that likes repairing things. Once you throw it away it very likely won't be salvaged.

[BlakeRichardson]

I am in the process of converting a van to a camper van so I can have technology free breaks. The plan is to use as much reclaimed wood as possible throughout the build. Its also going to have solar panels so that it can truely be off grid. 

To me personally sorting out our plastic pollution is a much more urgent problem than global warming, the reason I feel this way is because humans are very good at adapting to extreme temperatures however we cannot survive without clean water. I closely follow "The Ocean Cleanup" and the amazing work they are doing to make our planet a much cleaner place. Checkout their new "Intercepter" which they have designed to cleanup rivers. 

https://theoceancleanup.com

On the 1st of July 2019 New Zealand officially banned the use of single use plastic bags, as a result many retailers have switched to paper bags or reuasable bags. While most plastics can be recycled soft plastics as they are known seem to be harder to recycle. 

[redsector]

In Germany we have a tradition for the children waiting for christmas. They will get an advends-calendar at the first of December. And they are allowed to open a small door or a sac filled with small sweets or gifts each day.

And this is what can be done with the Meraki devices sacs:

[IanH]

Hello,

A local business man and a good friend to a number of people i know required help to convert one of the walls in his new enterprise (local bar) to be entirely made of old VCR Tapes from old films...  A lot of us chipped with our unwanted tapes hidden away somewhere and this was the outcome!

The Video Tape Wall on Halloween Night

[Nick_S-B]

What to do with a redundant Cisco 4506 chassis............?

Upcycle to a coffee table with a logo, glass top and a few fixings!  A great addition to our breakout area.

[SergeRobert]

Heating with an MX for a chilly cat

[Micronet]

Angle adjustable cooling fan made with old Monitor stand and network rack cooling fan

[MeredithW]

This contest has ended — huge thanks to everyone who shared their recycling photos and stories! Congrats to our randomly selected Meraki socks winners: @IanH, @Ensposito, @TMRoberts, and @Andrewbluepiano. 

[cwf]

Awe man. I really needed some green socks. Congrats to the winners. Just remember, Its not easy being green.

[BrechtSchamp]

Congrats all!

[Ensposito]

Aha!  Can't wait to get my green socks!