Computer Recycling Throwing them away shouldn't be an option

by David Orenstein free-lance writer

The decision to scrap assets as valuable and expensive as computers is difficult for most people. Make sure that when the time comes, you make the right decision about how to dispose of your machines. The responsible choices are resale, donation, and recycling. Simply throwing computer equipment away should not be an option.

However, putting computer equipment out with the trash is a growing problem. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission estimates 1.5 million computers are discarded in Texas annually, with roughly 162,000 recycled, leaving more than 1.3 million units assumed to be stored or disposed of in landfills. Computers and other technology equipment are laced with nasty elements including mercury, cadmium, and, in CRT monitors, pounds of lead.

A trashy end for a computer especially is wasteful if it comes before the end of the computer’s useful life. When you buy a spiffier machine, consider whether the one it is replacing still might be useful. Sale and donation opportunities abound in the Dallas area.

Computer Reset (www.c-reset.com) on Skillman Avenue and the religiously affiliated HOBI International (www.hobi.com) are two local organizations that will buy some used computer equipment. Buyers of used equipment generally are looking for specific things at specific times, so they may not be interested when you call. Still, if you can get a few bucks for what you no longer want, why not try?

If you would rather donate (a tax deduction might be more valuable than the money you’d get from selling equipment), you also have options. The Technology Outreach Program of the Dallas Independent School District, for example, accepts donations of equipment that is modern enough to be useful. Schools don’t want old junk any more than you do, but if your computers meet or exceed their standards (Pentium II), they might take them. Check out (www.dallasisd.org/depts/technology/outreach/). You also can donate to Goodwill Industries in Fort Worth (www.goodwillfortworth.org/shop/computers/computers.html).

Another way to donate a PC is through the manufacturers themselves. You can donate through Dell (www.dell4me.com/recycling) to the National Cristina Foundation, which gives computers to the disabled and the poor. HP also will take back your computer equipment and donate it, if it is still capable, or recycle it. HP charges between $13 and $34 to take back hardware, regardless of how they dispose of it. Dell recycles, too, and charges about $15 a PC for the service. Round Rock-based Dell recently selected Carrollton-based Resource Concepts to handle much of its recycling.

Local recycling options are available for computers that you are sure have reached the end of their useful life. If you live or work in Plano, the City of Plano and Dallas Computer Parts accept computers for recycling every third Saturday of the month at 4120 W. Plano Pkwy.

The TNRCC has a statewide list of computer recyclers on its electronics recycling site (www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/exec/sbea/recycling/electronics/index.html).

The TNRCC also offers sound advice that you may have already heeded, even if not for environmental reasons. Leasing your computers rather than buying them takes the problem of proper disposal off your hands. If you suspect the leasing company disposes of machines poorly, however, you might consider working with a more responsible business in the future. The TNRCC also offers advice on how to make the most environmentally responsible equipment purchases.

A lot of issues are more important to running a medical practice than the environmental impact of office equipment, but proper disposal of PCs, monitors, printers, and other machines is not difficult and ultimately will result in a healthier environment. In a sense, then, it, too, is patient care.

David Orenstein is a technology and business writer in Silicon Valley. To learn more about a technology topic in Computing Care, e-mail him at davealli@comcast.net.