This is supplemental information to the series:
Recycling PC Components and Paraphernalia
by Lee Hudspeth
Here are links to all the articles published to date in this series:
Here is additional information related to these articles.
Tips from readers about finding recipients for PC donations. Note that I have no personal knowledge of any of the institutions listed herein.
- GuideStar - The National Database of Nonprofit Organizations
According to the reader who sent me this tip, "We are The National Database of Nonprofit Organizations and have over 850,000 IRS determined nonprofits listed in the database. Our search allows the user to find charities by name, keyword, geography, subject and financial size. We don't evaluate like the BBB, but we do have the IRS tax filings (pdf documents) of all charities that are required to file so you can do your own evaluation. Check us out! We are free and a great resource to anyone who wants to learn about charities."
- National Cristina Foundation
According to the reader who sent me this tip, "I went to the Christina.org Web site and completed the online form. They sent me an email with the name of a local institution who wanted the PC. Personnel from the local institution came to my home to get the PC and related peripherals so I didn't have to ship anything. It was a fairly quick process."
- CAI Chile-Bienvenidos
According to G.&J.N. who submitted this tip, "CAI is an organisation working to bring computer literacy to the poor of the country who have no access to computers." (Note that this Web site is in Spanish.)
- StRUT - Students Recycling Used Technology
According to Dick Hamilton who submitted this tip, "The computers are distributed to schools where students learn technology by repairing/rebuilding/testing them. Then the computers are donated free to schools to use in the classroom."
- Donate Used Computers to the Computer Redistribution Team
According to the reader who sent me this tip, "I've been on the board of directors for the Waynesboro Computer Redistribution Team since the first day, so I can personally vouch for their integrity and dedication."
- Free Geek - Home
According to Pam T. who submitted this tip, "In Portland, Oregon we may donate our computers and parts to freegeek.org. They have volunteers that refurbish them and kids and adults 'earn' them by donating their time to help refurbish/recycle the computers."
- Contact a local disability organization
According to the reader who sent me this tip, "...on the above subject can I make a plea on behalf of other disabled persons like myself. Many severely disabled people could have whole new worlds opened up to them by receiving an Internet-ready donated computer. Since getting a computer a couple of years ago, I can now write letters and emails to communicate and search the Internet for information on my health problems and other subjects of interest. For someone with a computer to pass on, either their personal knowledge of a deserving disabled person in the community around them, or by contacting a local disability organisation can make such a difference to a disabled person."
In the Part 1 article I didn't explicitly mention the cost of shipping one's package to GreenDisk... In my case, for a six pound shipment that I had my local mom and pop mail shop handle for me, I paid $14.16 total for the shipping, labor, packing materials, etc. I could have saved a few bucks by shipping with USPS, but I opted for UPS Ground because it's traceable and I wanted to be sure the media got there and thus have an audit trail from my company's door to GreenDisk, after which I'll have their Certificate of Destruction and be all set.
On October 3, 2001, I was privileged to have a fascinating discussion with GreenDisk's President, David Beschen... Here are some additional comments he made that I couldn't fit into the limited space of the newsletter's main article.
Here is the quote that appears in the newsletter version of the article, "We in the U.S. have been conscientious about how we recycle paper and similar products. At GreenDisk we think it's
important to make it 'free and easy' for folks to recycle computer media too. It's also important to have recyclers deliver something back, as we do with our existing recycled diskette and
CD-R disk products." The supplemental quotes follow...
"By 'free and easy' we are speaking of an operating goal not a current reality. When we develop a technotrash recycling program we want to get it as close to 'free' as is possible for the end user. We recognize that the closer we get the more likely they are to actually use the program. This is even more true of corporate customers. They usually do not have the freedom
or flexibility to create budgets for recycling. This issue is one of the main reasons we focus on intellectual property disposal. While funds may not be readily available for recycling, they are usually already allocated (or quickly can be) when the concern is for security. Corporations, even those that want to be a responsible citizen of their communities, do not necessarily have the discretion to spend shareholder's money on things that an individual or even an entire management team deems 'moral.' When they do address environmental issues I suspect the budget is most often charged to marketing or public relations. They play in a competitive environment and need to be given a level playing field especially where recycling is at issue. Unfortunately, this means either legislation is mandated or innovations that bring the costs to zero (or at least competitively priced with landfill costs). Either GreenDisk and other recyclers recognize this factor or they fall by the wayside."
"Our strategy has been to develop programs that either self-liquidate or come as close as is possible. The easiest way to achieve this status is to develop a competitive line of products out of the waste stream. We have generally chosen to focus on commodity or near-commodity products where our 'environmental' brand serves to differentiate us from the competition. We want to be certain that every element of GreenDisk is well aligned with our overall market position."
"We do have some [completely] free programs, notably our inkjet recycling program is completely free to users, and high-volume CD recyclers get our service for free."
"Regarding the specific program you referenced, all proceeds go to the non-profit workshops that perform the labor. GreenDisk makes its money from the sale of its products. Seems fair all round."
Here are some additional comments by Ken Goldstein, Ph.D., Founder and State Coordinator, Hawaii Computers for Kids Program... "Since starting CFK in 1992, it's been a total grass roots movement using (now) thousands of local volunteers. My Rotary club, the Rotary Club of Metropolitan Honolulu ("Metro"), picked up CFK as its signature project in 1996. Metro is one of 38 Rotary clubs in Hawaii (our state is known as "Rotary District 5000"). We in Metro have teamed with other District 5000 Rotary clubs on CFK tasks, and are slowly spreading the word throughout the 1.2 million Rotary members around the world. I'm working to develop a standard model that can be used in other states and countries."
"When an end-user donates a computer, he or she gets a formal donation receipt that is qualified for federal and state tax write-offs. If the PC is less than two years old, then a federal law comes into effect so that the entire original cost of the machine is a write-off (yes, you get the free use of that machine for two years, and then still get a full tax write-off), but only for corporations so far. We're working with Congress to get the same benefits for end-users."
"After nine years, people know about us. In fact, we get hundreds of donations each year from places like Japan & Germany! I have 11 drop-off points around the state, and all the donations on this island are picked up from those places by Helping Hands Hawaii (HHH) and placed in their central warehouse."
http://www.helpinghandshawaii.org
"Then the fun begins! We have students at 16 high schools trained to diagnose, repair/upgrade, and load new operating systems on these donated machines, and HHH is responsible for getting the machines to one or more of these schools. After the students are done, we then have to locate schools that need these ready-to-use computers. This is actually our most difficult task, as the Hawaii Dept. of Education still has not created a system so that we can easily find these needy end-users. But we've managed to move more than 10,000 computers from donors to schools to date."
Some emails that I have received from The Naked PC readers (with permission to reprint):
- Some interesting thoughts here about my generations comment, from Doug Radcliffe, "I agree with your recycling message, although my concerns about metal and paper are minimal. But the slow-to-biodegrade materials deserve everyone's attention. 450 years is far more than 6 or 7 generations. It's more like 20+. A generation is measured from the time a person is born until that person reproduces, not the life span of a human being. With most births occurring in the 18-25 age group, a generation is currently probably just over 20 years, give or take a little. It could be worse: human culture presently delays procreation several years beyond our biological readiness. Our life span was determined by the length of time it took to reach child-bearing age, a few years of reproduction time, and the time it required for our offspring to reach that same age, i.e., the early 40s. With medical advances and no necessity to survive in the wild, we have added about a quarter of a century to nature's expectations. (But our eyesight still tends to fail in our early 40s.)"
- Thought you might like to see what some of the visitors at my site use their old CDs for. The link to the page on recycling CDs: http://www.brokeboats.com/safety.html. I also mentioned it in one of my monthly newsletters and received quite a few replies; here's one I enjoyed, 'Dear Wayne, am so glad that I wrote you and that I am added to your newsletter and I am not your mom. LOL. However, I have added the CDs to all our life vests on the boat and the ones for the jet skis... again thanks, talk to you soon...' Anyway, you asked for anecdotes, or comments on recycling PC stuff so there you go! I also encourage safety, recycling, and environmental respect and feel setting a good example with a smile does more good than posting a dozen 'don't litter' signs. Keep up the good job; I always enjoy The Naked PC Newsletter and tell others often. Have a Grand Day, Wayne Weber." (Stay Safe Afloat, http://www.brokeboats.com)
You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com
 Return to Top
|
