People often throw out their old furniture or worn-out appliances, which can be good for secondhand shoppers looking to give those items a second life, and sometimes someone can randomly come across new and valuable items that end up in the trash, too.
Like this Reddit user who posted in the r/pcmasterrace subreddit that they discovered a gaming PC from 2017 sitting in their upscale apartment's trash room, and it still worked like new (after a little bit of cleaning). "...I'm really shocked this was thrown out," they wrote in the comments.
As for the specs, they said the computer they found was running an Intel Core i7-7700 processor, a Zotac GTX 1080 graphics card, 16 gigabytes of DDR4 RAM, and a CX750 power supply. It was missing a hard drive or SSD, but after plugging in a 250GB SSD and installing Windows, the PC worked.
"Cleaned up the best we could. It's not like spotless. But there's [no] dust bunnies on the important parts or inside of the important parts," despite not having any dust filters, the user wrote that it was a step up from their previous PC. "This is a big upgrade for me," they wrote in the caption.
How do valuable electronics like this end up in the trash? The Environmental Protection Agency says that most e-waste ends up in landfills or incinerators, which means losing valuable materials such as copper, gold, glass, and aluminum that could be recovered and reused. The EPA also notes that discarded electronics can contain hazardous substances, including lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic, which can pose serious health risks.
That's why it is important to take advantage of finds like this. Not only can you upgrade if you come across an item that can replace or complement something that you already own, but it also contributes to keeping the environment clean.
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"Many people who move abroad don't wanna deal with moving their pc with them, so they just leave it...But yeah it's very odd for me that they didn't sell it or something, anyways, that's still a good find!" a fellow Redditor wrote underneath the post.
"That PC you found in the trash has better specs than my current PC XD. Maybe it's time for me to go dumpster diving," another user added.
"I used to live in a large apartment complex in a college town years ago and every spring when the school year would end there would be the most insane stuff thrown in the trash. Perfectly good furniture, TVs, electronics like consoles and PCs," a third wrote, validating the OP's experience with this find.
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