February 11, 2026
Reduce, reuse, rage
Ask HN: Why electronics are still so unrecyclable?
Why your old gadgets won’t die right—and why HN says keep them alive
TLDR: Electronics are hard to recycle because they’re tiny layer-cakes of mixed materials that are costly and energy-intensive to process. Commenters say the real fix is keeping gadgets in use longer, with a side debate over batteries highlighting how even “recycled” items can be messy—making e‑waste a growing, thorny problem.
A humble Hacker News thread asking why electronics are so hard to recycle exploded into a chorus of “reduce, reuse, recycle—IN THAT ORDER.” The top mood? Recycling gadgets is a last resort. One commenter basically started a rally: use stuff longer, fix it, or pass it on. Another brought the receipts with a 2011 workhorse PC still cranking—because who wants to reinstall everything?
The hottest take: it’s too expensive and too energy-hungry to recycle tiny, mixed-material gizmos. As one put it, if the energy cost is worse than the environmental win, don’t do it. Others painted the messy picture: collecting small devices from everywhere is a logistics headache, separating glued-together metals and plastics is a nightmare, and purifying the leftovers is pricey.
Cue a mini-drama on batteries: one commenter warned that even lead-acid battery recycling—supposedly “simple”—can be dangerous and dirty. Another clapped back: they’re actually the most recycled consumer product, just not without problems. Meanwhile, the explainer squad compared electronics to aluminum cans you can “just melt” vs. gadgets that are basically a materials lasagna—layers of metals, glass, and plastic cooked together.
Bottom line: the community’s verdict is clear—keep your gadgets running and only recycle when there’s truly nothing left to salvage.
Key Points
- •The post highlights that only a small percentage of electronics are currently recycled.
- •It notes that electronics recycling commonly relies on chemical processes.
- •Modern electronics use a mix of plastics and specialized metals, complicating material recovery.
- •Extracting materials from electronics is energy-intensive and may require large acid digesters.
- •The author asks about initiatives using alternative materials or design approaches to improve recyclability or reuse of chips and boards.