In Australia we all go through so many computers it seems recycling is entirely about keeping them away from landfills. I think this has a lot to do that we are the kings of the world in terms of our trade position with a dollar that kicks ass relatively, since we are the only G20 nation that cares enough about its currency to raise rates. As far as keeping these systems out of landfills goes, I am doing exactly that. Because when I refined that search for Australia, I really couldn't find much other than recyclers. The absence of charity doesn't surprise me, because usually when I meet someone without a computer and I have seven spare ones they get given an old one pretty quickly. This is the Australian way. I imagine the recycler probably tries to hock the cables and such, but when its obselete it really is, and they probably just dump them in landfills anyway.
I don't see a big movement to send them to Africa or South America coming either. No boats tend to go in that direction, all the boats departing Australia are usually headed for Europe and China carrying coal. Which we use to buy too many damn computers.
The irony is that despite having the developed worlds worst Internet connection speeds, we probably have more processing power per head than anyone. Actually, my dad got his computer from free from work because they were going to throw it in the bin over a year ago and it has a dual core 3.2ghz Intel processor and 4 gigabytes of ram.
