A tech fan took to Reddit to share a frustrating situation: They had 59 Arcade Coders — educational devices designed to teach coding to kids — that became unusable after the manufacturer went bankrupt and its app disappeared from stores.
What happened?
The Redditor reached out to the r/LinusTechTips community about owning dozens of Arcade Coders from a company ironically called Tech Will Save Us.
When the company went out of business, the app required to use the devices was removed from app stores, turning functioning educational technology into trash overnight.
"I don't want to throw them away as it seems like a waste," the user wrote, "but what else can I do with them to stop them becoming just an e-waste product?"
Community members sympathized, with one commenter saying, "If a company sells you a product, and then decide (or are forced) to stop supporting that product, there should be a law requiring them to provide any necessary information to allow the general public to provide that support.
"Things like this and online only multiplayer games are the two main areas I see this becoming a growing issue."
Why is e-waste concerning?
Electronic waste is a massive economic drain, unlike other forms of waste. When these Arcade Coders became unusable, they wasted thousands of dollars in manufacturing costs, labor, and valuable materials.
E-waste is particularly costly because electronics contain expensive components such as lithium batteries, rare earth metals, and precision-engineered parts. The Arcade Coders likely contain circuit boards with gold and copper. These components required significant labor and resources to produce.
Beyond the financial toll, e-waste creates environmental challenges. Electronics in landfills can contaminate soil and water with heavy metals and flame retardants. Manufacturing replacement devices depletes limited resources and consumes energy.
The situation represents a larger problem with how technology is designed today. "Walled garden" ecosystems — in which devices only function with proprietary software — are vulnerable to corporate decisions or business failures.
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Giving me money back 💰 Is the company doing anything about this?
Since Tech Will Save Us went bankrupt, it isn't in a position to provide solutions.
The Reddit user mentioned attempts to revive the devices through a Discord community, but those efforts apparently stalled.
They noted that the company could have released the app for free or provided open-source code to allow the community to maintain the devices' functionality. However, this didn't happen before the company closed. "Without the app they are completely useless," they wrote.
What's being done about electronic waste more broadly?
Some manufacturers are designing products with repairability and longevity in mind.
Organizations including iFixit provide repair guides and replacement parts for many devices, helping people extend the lives of their electronics.
Certain states and countries have passed legislation supporting consumers' rights to repair their devices, making it easier for them to fix products.
For those looking to responsibly dispose of electronics, services such as Trashie's Tech Take Back Box make recycling easy. These programs ensure your devices are properly recycled and that valuable materials are recovered and toxic components kept out of landfills.
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