What is the proper way to dispose of old tubes?

Macrojack, "If the substance in question is mined, then it is found in nature. Why can't we just return it to nature?"

These substances are NOT found in nature. Nor, do they return to nature in such a benign manner, or they would be labeled "biodegradable". Have you ever seen glass or the metals that form the getters, plate structures, or tube pins in nature? Of course not. Have you ever encountered lead or sulfuric acid in the quantities that exist in an automotive battery in nature? Again, the answer is, no. These are the products of synthesizing compounds from other compounds in an industrial laboratory or production plant setting.

You see the ores or other mother materials, which are quite different from the end product, and normally come from a very different place than where your local landfill resides. There's a lot of work involved in getting them to the concentrated and "pure" state you see, which is often dirty work that the producing site is required/able to deal with.

It's the ethical and legal responsibility of everyone to dispose of things in the proper manner so that we don't have the various compounds we encounter in our daily lives come back to harm us later or create the need for unnecessary and expensive means to protect us from them.

Trelja- Everything you've mentioned IS found in nature. The materials used in our tubes are in large part are all elements or alloyed elements(in the case of steel). Copper, zinc, nickel, lead, gold, and barium are all metals commonly found in vacuum tubes(and are ALL elements). Sulfuric acid comprises most of the atmosphere of the planet Venus, which(last time I looked) wasn't "synthesized" by anyone on this planet. Ever heard of, "acid Rain"? Guess what "acid" it contains. Glass is made of silicone and oxygen(same chemical composition as quartz), and of course there's plenty of silica on every beach of the world. You probably(hopefully) brushed you teeth with some this morning.

Rodman99999, your post perfectly illustrates the old saying, "a LITTLE knowledge is dangerous".

Again, NO, YOU DON'T FIND ANY OF THESE THINGS IN NATURE. I don't know how much clearer I can say that.

The elements on your list are not found in the forms you seems to think they are. Metals like copper are found not as metallic copper, but in different mineral configurations (such as malachite, azurite, and so on), along with things like carbon, oxygen, sulfur, other metals, etc. Steel, used in tube pins, plate structures, component chassis, etc. exists nowhere in the natural, it is an alloy created by man of varying elements, including iron, carbon, and other materials depending on what it is to be used for.

Go down your list, and each item does not exist as itself, but as something else. During the last few thousand years, we have attained the ability to process compounds that we find in nature into countless other compounds which can be used to make life better, easier, or longer. However, it is the height of naivete and arrogance to believe that we can discard these things we have created in a cavalier way, as the potential of many of them is to make life worse, more difficult, or shorter.

The overarching truth is that there is an order to our environment and the entire universe. Man's inherent ignorance, which ranges from the way many organizations and countries conduct business to some of the posts you see in this thread to even some of the most powerful (and, supposedly, knowledgeable) scientists, is that we have somehow conquered this understanding to the level where we can act in whatever manner suits us at the moment. Instead, we need to recognize and accept our position as stewards of the environment so that ourselves and our children do not suffer the consequences of what that ignorance will inevitably bring.

A final note, not to hit you over the head with the chemistry, but the glass you mention is made of "silicon", not "silicone"; two distinct and very different substances. In truth, "glass" is simply any composition of ceramic (a metal bonded to a nonmetal) compounds, which in the proper proportions combined with specific processing, do not form a crystal structure, which is the reason light can pass through it. I've literaly made hundreds of glass compositions, some of which had silicon, and many of which did not. Oh, and yes, I brushed my teeth this morning, and the toothpaste I use contains silica - put into the formulation to provide tartar control and polishing.

Excuse the hell out of my mis-spelling of "silica"(it was 4:30am when I typed that, and must have had implants on my mind). Obviously- I know the difference, as I spelled it correctly in my reference to the beach, and you further picked up my meaning regarding your toothpaste. If you'll re-read my post, I mentioned steel is an alloy(nothing caught there, just the typical liberal obfuscation). You asked if sulfuric acid is ever found in nature in the quantities found in a battery. Is the amount in the atmosphere of Venus enough for you? You continuously used the term, "synthetic" throughout your alarmist post. Absolutely nothing that you mentioned is a "synthetic". It's no secret to me that almost everything on the Periodic Table generally is found in some combination with other elements as a compound, and must be extracted or refined. That(refining) DOES NOT make them "synthetics". I lived in Cleveland, Ohio for 26 years, and I am very aware of what industry and the refining process can do to the environment. The bottom line though: If everyone that frequents the threads of AudioGon took every vacuum tube they possess to a landfill and dumped them today, the impact on the ecology would be ZILCH(maybe less)! I suppose you would support a movement to extract all the sodium from the oceans, because the fish are developing high blood pressure. Then again: Perhaps you're not a tree-hugger, but rather a muslim and would prefer we all returned to living in tents, riding camels and burning their crap for heat?

It's obvious that it smarts when someone takes you apart in the way I did, Rodman9999.