Slashdot Mirror
IBM Offers Computer Recycling
"Many readers are probably unaware that used electronics, including TVs and monitors, are already categorized as a hazardous waste by the US EPA. Unsafe disposal by any business can lead to some staggering costs. The EPA does not inspect your trash. But if they find your monitor at an unsafe waste site, you are 100% responsible for cleaning up that entire site. They go after everyone who contributed to the site and just keep going until everyone is bankrupt or the site is cleaned. There is no proportional allocation. One PC is enough to be charged the entire site cleanup cost.
Consumers not exempt, but there is no point in prosecuting them. They don't have enough money and the political cost to the EPA is too high.
If you do not already have a suitable electronics disposal plan in place, this may be of interest. Most Massachusetts towns have a recycling plan in place because Massachusetts already prohibits consumer disposal of electronics in the regular trash. There are also a variety of donation programs for usable electronics, although many charities have become rather restrictive. They have been burned by people donating broken useless equipment and forcing the charity to pay the recycling disposal fees."
I'm a volunteer at FreeGeek. We actually exchange volunteer hours for the refurbished computers, as opposed to giving them away outright.
The project is new. Our "grand opening" isn't even until this Saturday. (Originally timed for *after the election*, so we could get political officials interested enought to come, ironically.)
We're pulling in a variety of systems, from 8086's on up to dual Pentium Pros. The entire internal network for the organization has been pulled from the trash heap (with a few donations and maybe a couple hundred dollars spent on a DSL router and a few necessary cables.)
We're getting interest from a number of local high tech companies, and we've gotten 501(c)(3) status (that is, the IRS allows donations to us to be tax deductable).
If we can make a go of this, it may be reproduceable in other communities.
If said technology is still usable, they will give it, along with training, to a needy individual, in the hopes that this person will be able to use this training to start a career, and get a better life for him/herself.
If the technology you donate has outlived its usefulness, FreeGeek will pick it apart and recycle the basic components or elements. All of this is free of charge, but if you are giving them recyclables, they will ask for a small cash donation (not required).
But of course, Oregon is a pretty green state. Gore barely defeated Ralph Nader for the presidency here, 46% to 6%.
I'm assuming there are other programs like this around the country, but I don't know. What's your city doing?
Uncle Sam sent me to the Persian Gulf, and all I got was this lousy Syndrome!
This argument is not based on fact. A good friend of mine was involved in the management of a sizable recycling company in the Bay Area for many years, and they not only helped keep many tons of electronic and metal scrap out of landfill, but they did it at a profit. Yes, that's right, a profit on recycling.
In fact, IBM will likely make a profit on this deal. You PAY them $29.99 for recycling AND they get to sell or reuse the parts? Hey, I'll give you THAT deal! First of all, most solid state parts don't go bad very easily, so there is plenty for them to recover. Secondly, reselling used computers in third world countries can be fairly lucrative.
The company my friend helped run did both of these things, plus metal recovery (which was actually their first business - recovery of gold from electronics assemblies to make jewelry). As with junked cars, the parts value can exceed the value of the assembled system once a certain age is past. However, if the system still works, it may be cheaper to just sell it used rather than expend the energy and time to disassemble it. Thus, this company, and presumably IBM, would dismantle the broken systems for parts or to recover precious metals, and sell the working ones overseas.
My friend's company did this in, if I recall correctly, Indonesia and the Phillipines. Regarding environmental issues. For second-hand resale, the energy and pollution in transport did NOT outweigh the manufacture and transport of new systems (the transport expenditure is basically the same, but you're manufacturing new stuff as well, so how could new be cheaper costwise or environmentally?) For scrapping, the way that the components parts business is set-up, there is already a lot of transport going on, so this was also actually cheaper on both counts. As for metal recovery: not digging new mines, or, worse for an over-mined commodity like gold, lots of test mines and horrible things like sifter mines, gave quite a financial and environmental benefit.
Recycling of many items, especially complex machines, is not only environmentally sound, but can be quite lucrative. IBM is really quite brilliant for doing this, especially since, being IBM, they can do it with minimal additional transport costs?
Why? Most recycling moves through recycling centers. If IBM puts these at their distribution centers, to move the recycled equipment, you're mostly moving it in trucks which otherwise would be returning empty from distribution centers. In terms of home users shipping back via UPS, the financial cost is a little greater, but not really the environmental: again, you're primarily using empty space. Most UPS (and FedEx, and whatever) trucks return mostly empty to their depots. Someone else I knew well wrote the truck routing software for a major "less than truckload" shipper: their business is to resell the empty space on trucks. By making use of "waste" services to move waste goods, you're so far doing quite well financially and environmentally.
The disassembly process is also almost never more expensive or environmentally damaging than manufacturing, and certainly resale of used systems is pretty obviously without any added environmental cost.
If you know anything about the businesses of recycling and shipping, you realize that IBM has made a really smart move: if they know how to manage all this stuff properly (or if they partnered with folks who do), they'll make a profit AND get the PR bonus of being an "environmentally friendly" company.
Kudos to IBM...
o/~ we are pissed, we are pissed, we have to resist... o/~ - ec8or
Here are a few facts I dug up:
I've collected some information on computer recycling (the link to documentation of lead's effect on children's brains is bad; here is a better one).
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. -- Berthold Auerbach
I can see this as primarily a benefit to businesses...for individuals, why not just donate to Freeboxen? (www.freeboxen.com) Then you don't even need to pay the shipping...
One of the great delusions of the consumer era is that donating is better than throwing out. It's true, to some extent, but you're making the assumption that people want your old crap. At the one extreme, you have mattress retailers who make you feel good by offering to donate your old mattress to charity. The result in many cases is that you have charities getting flooded with smelly, stained mattresses that they don't know what to do with and have to pay to have hauled away. A 286 may be of value, yes, but really what are most people going to do with it? You'd have to really dig to find software, and then you'd be out in the cold without manuals or support or anyone to turn to. Is it worth getting yourself reliant on software that's ten or more years old? Unfortunately, using old software and hardware is not so easy.
What, me worry?