Landfills are run by the county, call County Services for your county and ask where the landfill is. Take your plastic there as needed, they might charge a flat rate or they might charge by the pound. There must be a landfill close by if your work has a dumpster, what do you think they do with that trash that they pick up from that dumpster? Now back to the connector question, if it's not gold leave it on the wire. Also not every scrap yard will buy ribbon cable, you might want to check first. hard drives I sell whole, not worth my time to brake down.