Recycling outdated computers and electronics is rapidly becoming a major problem. PCs are particularly troublesome they contain toxic materials, and their bulk can easily overwhelm landfills. Most people don't realize there are options beyond leaving used or broken electronic devices on the curb for the garbage collector. We look at the recycling programs offered by major PC vendors and by an independent contractor, and we examine proposed state legislation that aims to alleviate the problem altogether.
Responsibly disposing of computer hardware is difficult. Fortunately, the top PC makers have created recycling programs. Compaq offers a discount on new hardware purchases if you turn in your old equipment. You'll find no details on Compaq's Web site, though. The service is provided through a recycling partnership with United Recycling Industries. For $27.99, URI accepts any hardware that weighs no more than 69 pounds (including packaging) and that fits in a box that meets two size requirements: The length plus the circumference must be no more than 131 inches, and the length itself no more than 108. URI partially or totally dismantles your computer equipment for resale or shreds it and separates the raw materials such as plastic and metal. The Compaq discount varies.
Dell consumers have several options for old hardware: they can trade it in for credit toward new Dell hardware, auction it via DellAuction.com, or donate it, through the National Cristina Foundation, to disabled or economically disadvantaged children and adults. Dell is working on a free recycling program of its own, according to a company spokesperson. For now, Dell directs consumers to the Electronic Industries Alliance, which has information about recycling, broken down by state. Medium and large businesses have access to two programs through Dell Financial Services a Value Recovery Service, and a PC Recycling Service. The Value Recovery Service refurbishes useful equipment for resale, with a credit going to the businesses' Dell account. The PC Recycling Service includes data removal, on-site packing, equipment removal, and EPA-compliant recycling. The cost varies. Dell accepts any brand of hardware, but there must be 40 or more pieces.
Gateway accepts systems from consumers for trade-in or recycling. Both options net you some cash, but only if you order a new Gateway computer. Pentium-class systems in working condition, regardless of maker, are eligible for trade-in. You can get a trade-in value quote at a Gateway Country store or through a toll-free number, but not on the Web, currently. After starting the process, you have 30 days to deliver the system to a UPS location. Gateway mails a check within 14 days of receiving your system. For systems based on the 486 or its ancestors, the Gateway Recycling Benefit rebate program applies.
Gateway will also honor charitable donations. Once you've ordered a new Gateway system, you're sent a confirmation form. You have 60 days from the invoice date to bring your system to a recycler or charity and send the receipt and form to Gateway. Rebate amounts are $50 for a notebooks or all-in-one system, $25 for a desktop unit, and $25 for a monitor. Rebate totals cannot exceed $50 for each new system purchased. The company also has trade-in programs for businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies.
Hewlett-Packard's recycling program is open to consumers and businesses. Filling out a Web-page form starts the process, which ends about 48 hours later when a carrier picks up the equipment at your door. The cost is based on the quantity and type of equipment and varies from $13 to $34 per item. To recycle more than 10 items, you have to get a custom quote, but the items can include mainframes and wide-format plotters. You can charge the service to an existing HP account or a credit card. HP, in partnership with Micro Metallics, has its own recycling plants in Roseville, California and Nashville, Tennessee. Systems based on Pentium-class CPUs are evaluated for donation to non-profit charities. Older systems are disassembled and shredded. HP's Trade-in program, operated by TradeUps, lets you apply the value of the HP or non-HP digital equipment (including digital cameras, networking products, and PDAs toward the purchase of your new HP product.
The IBM PC Recycling Service is available to small businesses and consumers for $29.99 per kit. The kit consists of a prepaid UPS shipping label and instructions. One kit covers any manufacturers' PCs including system units, monitors, mice, keyboards, and peripherals that will fit in a box no larger than 26 inches on a side. Total shipping weight cannot exceed 69 pounds. IBM will assess systems to see if they can be refurbished for donation to Gifts in Kind International (GIKI), a charity for product-philanthropy that contributes to a network of over 50,000 nonprofit groups worldwide. GIKI acknowledges all donated materials with a certificate for tax purposes. Currently, systems based on a Pentium or better are donated. Not surprisingly, systems laboring under 486 processors or their predecessors get recycled. Envirocycle, one of the nation's largest recyclers of electronic equipment, provides the service. Larger amounts of equipment can be disposed of through IBM Global Financing Disposition and Support Services.
Micron's Green Recycling Program applies to all brands of hardware. If you recycle one to four 486 or older systems, you incur a charge of $75 each but that includes the monitor and all peripherals. Recycling five or more 486 or older systems and purchasing the same number or more from Micron qualifies you for a rebate on the recycling charges. The service, provided by Micron's recycling partner, Resource Concepts, also refurbishes systems. Apple currently supports a fee-based recycling program for its educational sales customers. A consumer program is in the works.
Although determining how many PCs get recycled is difficult, a study by the National Safety Council says that three-quarters of all computers ever purchased in the United States are gathering dust in storerooms, attics, garages, and basements. One way to get more defunct hardware to proper resting places is to legislate recycling programs and guidelines. Two state senators in California, home of Silicon Valley, have just introduced bills to do that.
Senator Byron Sher (D), from Stanford, introduced a bill on February 20 that would establish a state program for the recycling of cathode-ray tube (CRT) devices. To help fund the program, every retailer that sells CRT devices would collect a fee at the time of sale. This fee would fund a Cathode Ray Tube Recycling Account that would be used to provide matching grants for communities that establish appropriate recycling programs. It would also provide annual incentive payments to recycling centers and offer grants to nonprofit agencies that refurbish CRT devices for reuse. The bill would go into effect on July 1, 2003, if passed. A similar bill sponsored by Senator Gloria Romero (D), from Los Angeles, proposes a program for recovery, reuse, and recycling of hazardous electronic scrap (defined as any component or device that contains "lead, mercury, or any other persistent bioaccumulative toxin"). Consumer devices that fit this description are TVs, video monitors, computer monitors, and other CRT devices. The bill has lofty goals: If passed, it would go into effect January 1, 2004, and require that 80 percent of all hazardous electronic scrap be diverted from disposal in landfills to recycling or reuse with that number going up to 95 percent by 2006. The bill would also require 25 percent of all hazardous electronic scrap to be recycled or reused in 2004, 50 percent by 2007, and 75 percent by 2010. In addition, the legislation calls for the creation of a purchase-point fee, similar to what's outlined in the Sher bill, that would go into the Hazardous Electronic Scrap Recovery, Reuse, and Recycling Account.
But the Romero bill goes much further than the Sher bill. The Romero bill also asserts that the cost of proper disposal of such devices is "the appropriate responsibility of the producers and consumers of hazardous electronics, and not local government, state government, or taxpayers." The proposed legislation lays out specific and stringent requirements for manufacturers that include labeling of all hazardous materials, implementation of recovery programs, and creation of no-cost consumer take-back, mail-back, drop-off, and pick-up programs and facilities. The companies must provide toll-free numbers for information and must also establish public education programs that promote recycling and recovery efforts. The bill's stated goal is that "the recovery of hazardous electronic scrap be at least as convenient to consumers as the system and procedure for the sale and distribution of hazardous electronic devices."
If you stacked all of the used computers in the world on top of each other, would they reach the moon? Perhaps Surplus Buyers (www.surplusbuy.com) knows after all, the company recycled over six million pounds of computer equipment in 2001, up from 100,000 pounds six years ago. The Houston, Texas company, housed in a 14,000-square-foot EPA-certified facility, has expanded its scope from regional to nationwide in that time as well. Surplus Buyers disposes of computers, monitors, memory, hard drives, network cards, toner, and software and not by dumping the stuff in your local landfill. "Computer monitors are considered hazardous waste and the plastics used in computer parts take thousands of years to decompose," says Larry Leach, company president. Some examples of components that contain toxic materials are mercury switches and relays and nickel-cadmium and lithium batteries.
Systems that can be rehabilitated are fixed and sold to Third World countries. Equipment that is too far gone enters the recycling process, in which Surplus Buyers separates parts and extracts precious metals like gold and silver. "It takes $2 worth of labor to get $4 of precious metal, so it's not very cost-effective. But there is a need, so we fill it," says Leach. Not all computer parts have a positive dollar value. "The plastic we just accumulate and eventually melt down," he says. The cost of sending outdated hardware to the Houston facility varies. For large lots, Surplus Buyers evaluates the hardware on-site and arranges for shipping back to Texas. The company removes all data via reformatting or destruction. Some companies manage to break even by giving newer machines that can be rehabilitated along with older ones that can only be broken down and recycled. For smaller amounts of hardware, Surplus Buyers sends shipping material to the company. Companies that qualify can get Landfill Diversion Certificates.
Here are the links where you can get information on the recycling programs of several leading PC makers.