Most of the hardware I've ever owned I still have, either in working order or as component boards decorating my walls. I recall my emotion when disposing of the Freerunner was that it didn't deserve an epic funeral (the laser) or even the honor of being properly disassembled.

The problem with throwing any kind of device that includes a lithium-ion battery in the trash is that lithium-ion batteries tend to catch fire when crushed. Like, say, in a trash truck's compactor.

Everyone: please do not do this. Dispose of your battery-powered devices somewhere that's equipped to handle them.

(Now, the Openmoko phones had a removable battery, so it's possible you didn't toss that out with it. Then it's "just" e-waste rather than explody e-waste.)

It might also be illegal to throw away lithium batteries in the trash, depending on where you live.

Yeah I had one and I donated it to a university computer science department in South America. I'm not sure if the students ever got much use out of it but I was happy to pass it on to someone who might have fun tinkering with it.

Or at least send all electronics for recycling. Those precious metals don’t belong in landfills.