Redditor scores $500 worth of DDR4 at local dump and now I'm wondering if every landfill is actually a goldmine

Scrapped Randam Access Memory (RAM) devices sit in a crate at the Attero Recycling Pvt facility in the Raipur industrial area of Bhagwanpur in Roorkee, Uttarkhand, India, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2013. — (Image credit: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

I've often been casually tempted to rifle through the jumble of electronic odds and sods at my local dump. But I've never actually done it. Now I'm thinking I probably should after a redditor on the PC Master Race sub reports scoring 64 GB of DDR4, a 10th Gen Intel i7 CPU, an Asus motherboard, NAS drive and more at a local refuse site.

Currently, you're looking at around $500 to buy that amount of generic DDR4 new, more if you want the fancy stuff. So, that's quite the find on the memory alone, let alone the other stuff.

An employee reaches examines electronic waste awaiting to be dismantled as recyclable waste at the Electronic Recyclers International plant in Holliston, Massachusetts, USA. — Sadly, most recycling depots probably don't allow the public to have a rummage. (Image credit: Zoran Milich via Getty Images)

Another reports scoring an RTX 2070 and 128 GB of DDR4 in "various" sticks, but all working. However, many redditors report that rummaging through the e-waste at their local recycling centres is not allowed, lamenting the likely thousands of dollars worth of hardware that will be simply "melted down".

Indeed, the OP of the Reddit thread in question reveals that digging through the e-waste at their dump isn't officially sanctioned. "It's not exactly allowed, but my town being as small as it is and not having cameras there like they're meant to helps a lot. Also have befriended the man who works there so I don't have to worry about being snitched on."

All of which means that scoring near-priceless memory from your local landfill probably isn't a goer. It's interesting to speculate whether the various service providers around the recycling industry have twigged to the value of this stuff and are rescuing memory for resale or repurposing rather than regular recycling. If that isn't already taking place, what with the way memory pricing is going, it'll surely be happening soon.

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Jeremy has been writing about technology and PCs since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of monitor input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just likes machines that go “ping!” He also has a thing for tennis and cars.

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