What's the proper way to dispose of tubes?

[KeithTidd]

My amp just crapped out on me, and i'm going to have have to throw out my tubes (for the most part). I got to thinking: is there a special way to throw my tubes out? are they suitable to be thrown into the garbage or recycle bins? do i have to take them to a recycling plant? What's the right way to get rid of tubes.

 

[4 4 4]

Throw them at small children.

 

[jangoux]

lol!!!!

eheheh Just throw them away as you throw lamps, i guess..

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, that's what I've always done, just chuck 'em - maybe I should be thinking more green, but I'm not a goddamn hippie, so I'll keep it at my fluorescent light bulbs and mass transit

 

[RipShredmohr]

At first I thought that was a joke, then I noticed you were from California.

 

[colonel kurtz]

 

[Kazrog]

Perfectly good question, I've been wondering about this too. Laugh all you want, but if you're not going green, you're a part of the problem. I try to be less of a problem every day...

I don't know the answer to this, although it seems that tubes are made of many materials (glass, metal, plastic, etc.) that could potentially be recycled. What's the deal with the tube manufacturing process? Why are tubes predominantly coming from Russia and China? Is there something environmentally unsound about the way in which they are manufactured that has resulted in none of them coming from the USA, even with the USA's fairly behind-the-times environmental regulations?

 

[Altitudes]

Here's my chance to ask: How does one dispose of a garbage can?

Paradox?

 

[Metaltastic]

Honestly, if you're worried, I'd recommend just sticking 'em in a box on some shelf in the storage section of your house (attic, garage, whatever) and forgetting about 'em - when my old laptop battery failed, I tried to find out how to dispose of it, and when I realized what a fucking hassle it would be to bring it to a qualified place, I just stuck it on a shelf in my garage, never to see the light of day again. This was 3 years ago, it's still there.

 

[4 4 4]

Sell them to Behringer for "hand-picked" use in their Bugera amps.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I can't afford to be green.

Although I do have florescent light throughout my entire apartment. But that wasn't to be green that was to save some green.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Sell them to Behringer for "hand-picked" use in their Bugera amps.

Awesome!

 

[MetallyGuitarded]

I have read elsewhere that Vacuum Tube manufacturing does use some harsh chemicals but I'd have to google it to be more specific. As I recall, it does come down to those countries making them because they don't have any regulation against that kind of pollution/exposure.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Give them to your local Backyard Wrestling league.