[a fool in paradise]

Charity is one thing, recycling is another.

Recycling is to reclaim raw materials from winding up in the city dump.

Charity to raise money for the less fortunate (through lifeturns or disaster). When Salvation Army sells higher end items online at auction, that still serves the mission statement. They aren’t claiming that all materials will be used by the needy. The receipts from the sales go to the needy (and even the very act of selling gives them some work).

This original apple computer in no way shape or form has been “recycled”.

[roadcat]

Wow, your definition of recyclers is way off the mark, maybe you are a fool? Recycling is not for reclaiming raw materials. It is, as ReignOfError says, to make something useful of items people would otherwise discard in the trash. My daughters and their husbands regularly shop at places like Goodwill and Salvation Army, among other outlets. They're not poor, having 6-figure incomes. They're thrifty, buying clothes and toys for themselves and their children. And they happen to like vintage goods, particularly from the 1940s and 1950s (a trend among the young now).

One thing that bothers me is that Goodwill and Salvation Army are very picky about what people can donate. They have often refused items because they're aren't brand new. I used to shop at Salvation Army back in the 1960s and they accepted all items, and put people to work repairing items. They no longer do that, maybe because there is more profit in simply accepting high quality goods. That's a shame because they used to put people to work and gave them skills.

I often donate electronics to recyclers, as well as buy products from them. Far better to reuse items than to accept the mentality of a throw-away society that wants only new stuff. Your thinking is wasteful.