Can I make any money off a copper heatsink?

bjfaia5

Honorable
Jul 19, 2012
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10,630
This is really random but something I have been wondering about. We hear about people trying to salvage small bits of gold from CPU's and other hardware parts. I have my sisters laptop and took it apart. I was wondering if I can do anything with the heatsink? It looks to be all copper but I don't know how pure it is and how much copper is going for right now.
 
Solution
you go to your scrap yard (or your local recycle station) and they take metal.
Call first, often they also require a minimum amount like 50pounds, but I suppose if you are just a kid, they may just give you the $1.50 so they don't feel like a jerk.

If you've done the math, You are better off sorting through trash and getting the bottles/cans for recycling as 20 glass bottles=1laptop heatsink. And 20beer cans/bottles are much easier to obtain then a laptop.

Or selling/donating the laptops whole (donations will give you a tax writeoff). Or selling it as-is on ebay for people who may randomly want to use yours for a project of some kind or as scrap parts.


Truthfully I'm not sure. What I mean is I'm not sure how pure the copper is. I guess if it's pure copper you can try to get it sold to be smelted. I don't know the process you would go about doing that maybe someone can help you with that. Who would he have to bring the copper to, to get it sold?
 
Don't know if that one heatsink even weighs a pound, probably not. Maybe I'll take a few more trashed laptops off peoples hands and build up a collection of copper heatsinks then get it scapped in mass.
 
you go to your scrap yard (or your local recycle station) and they take metal.
Call first, often they also require a minimum amount like 50pounds, but I suppose if you are just a kid, they may just give you the $1.50 so they don't feel like a jerk.

If you've done the math, You are better off sorting through trash and getting the bottles/cans for recycling as 20 glass bottles=1laptop heatsink. And 20beer cans/bottles are much easier to obtain then a laptop.

Or selling/donating the laptops whole (donations will give you a tax writeoff). Or selling it as-is on ebay for people who may randomly want to use yours for a project of some kind or as scrap parts.
 
Solution
oh final note,
Most places will consider a computer (or other electronics) e-waste.
And charge you a fee to take it, rather then the other way around.

You cannot just throw a computer into your trashcan it is not good for the environment.

Although, there are places who will accept it for free (check your local recycling guide).