Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Plugging into Recycling
Filed under: Earth 911 - April 5, 2008
So you finally gave in to your daughter because she couldn’t live another minute without a hot new iPod Touch. Which means you’re going to have to find something to do with the old iPod Nano you bought her last Christmas.
You already have a drawer full of cell phones from which you’ve upgraded, a dust gathering computer in the closet and a stack of dead video game systems, clunky ancient VCRs, even more ancient stereo equipment and DVD players that were marginally cheaper to replace than to fix.
And in less than a year you’ll probably get rid of that analog television because in February 2009 it won’t get high-definition signals without cable or satellite dish service.
You’re sufficiently environmentally conscious to know you can’t just chuck any of that stuff in a Dumpster because it will end up in a landfill, leaching toxic metals into the groundwater.
Here are some useful ways to get rid of outmoded electronics
- Consider donating computers and other electronic equipment that still works to a charity or a nonprofit. If you don’t have a particular donee in mind, the Environmental Protection Agency can help. You can download a document from the agency Web site with detailed advice on how and where to donate, plus a list of additional links to sites that can provide more information.The agency’s Plug-in to eCycling program, a partnership with electronics manufacturers and retailers, provides information on donating and recycling electronics. It has links to nearly two dozen EPA Plug-in Partners—retailers and manufacturers including Best Buy, AT&T, JVC, Panasonic, Office Depot, HP and Motorola. The agency is careful to say it doesn’t endorse any particular commercial services or products.
If your equipment isn’t worth donating, you can recycle it through municipal or statewide programs, such as one of the 19 regional solid waste districts in Arkansas or through manufacturers and big-box retailers.
No matter where you send your items, be sure you erase all personal information first and, if possible, include the original software and licensing information so that subsequent users can take advantage of them.
- The Regional Recycling and Waste Reduction District, formerly the Pulaski County Regional Solid Waste Management District—(501 ) 340-8787; pulaskiswdistrict.org/electronics.html—will take cell phones, rechargeable batteries, microwaves and onetime use cameras in addition to residential computer equipment, printers, TVs and VCRs at one of six centers.Locations and hours: Pulaski County Sanitation Department on Brown Street behind the county jail off Roosevelt Road, 7-9:30 a.m. and 3: 30-5: 30 p.m. Thursday (except Thanksgiving ), 7 a.m.-noon the second Saturday of the month. 10001 Kanis Road at Junior Deputy, 7-9 a.m. and 3: 30-5:30 p.m. Thursday, 7 a.m.-noon the first Saturday of the month. Maumelle Public Works Facility, 425-B Hyman Drive, Maumelle, 7 a.m.-5: 30 p.m. Friday, 7 a. m.-noon the second Saturday of the month. Inside the gate of the North Little Rock Public Works Facility, 12 th and Willow streets, North Little Rock, 7-9:30 a.m. and 3: 30-5:30 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m.-noon the third Saturday of the month.
Sherwood Public Works facility, 6500 North Hills Blvd., Sherwood, 7-9:30 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m. Monday (excluding government holidays ), 7 a.m.-noon the first Saturday of the month.
Jacksonville Recycling Center, 1300 Marshall Drive, Jacksonville (off the Main Street Exit of U. S. 67/167 ), 7-9: 30 a.m. and 3: 30-5: 30 p.m. Wednesday, 7 a. m.-noon the fourth Saturday of the month. The district will also open a major electronics collection center, 8 a. m.-3 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at Alltel Arena, Broadway and Interstate 30, North Little Rock.
The center is primarily for businesses with large quantities of equipment but will take items from households as well. It accepts computers, copiers, printers, fax machines, paper shredders, electrical cable, televisions, DVD players, VCRs, radios and cell phones.
The district sends everything to a federal prison in Texarkana where prisoners either repair and reprocess the items or strip them down for reusable components and precious metals and destroy the remainders.
Executive director John N. Roberts says that the process is clean and the workers are protected. Many recycling programs aren’t so scrupulous. They ship materials to quick-and-dirty recyclers in China, India and Nigeria, where workers use hammers, gas burners and bare hands to extract metals, glass and other recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to toxic chemicals.
- Consider using a commercial recycler. For example, Matt Gross runs a part-time Little Rock company called Tech Trader (www.t-trader.com), which he says provides “individuals and businesses with an environmentally friendly solution for the disposal of their retired and excess technology equipment,” including “desktop and laptop/notebook computers, monitors, printers and scanners; cell phones; personal data assistants; digital and video cameras; and gaming systems Xbox, Play-Station, etc.).” Gross says he’ll remove and recycle the equipment and wipe all personal data from hard drives and other media. He promises none of it will go into landfills.He resells devices and parts he can refurbish or reuse; the rest he ships off to the Texarkana prison through the federal government’s Unicor program (unicor. gov ), a division of Federal Prison Industries Inc. He charges a $10 fee for removal and processing.
- Unicor and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality are collaborating on Green-Fed, which the Unicor Web site describes as “a zero cost e-scrap recycling program for all Arkansas residents.” According to a department news release, it’s designed to reuse components of old electronic equipment as well as reduce the amount of such materials being added to landfills.The program, which will continue at least through June, offers Arkansans free shipping and recycling for a variety of electronic products via United Parcel Service.
A complete list of acceptable items appears on the Web site www.unicor. gov/recycling/greenfed, which also provides specifications for shipping boxes (participants must provide their own ). Call the ADEQ Recycling Section at (501) 682-0812 for more information or to arrange for a shipping label.
- You can locate nearby recycling facilities by punching in your ZIP code at earth911.org, which calls itself the nation’s premier environmental resource, and at www.gcycle.org, a crudely but cutely animated site.Both turn up several retail outlets (including Best Buy, Goodwill Industries and Salvation Army Thrift stores in Little Rock and Fayetteville ) and governmental outlets (the Regional Recycling and Waste Reduction District in Pulaski County).
Both sites also lead to Technologyrecycler.net, a Houston-based company with regional satellite centers in Little Rock, Orange, Calif., and Raleigh, N. C.
The Little Rock center takes material from Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. It accepts most electronic equipment (there’s a complete list on the site ), working or not, from individuals or businesses.
The company won’t release the exact location of the center to prevent folks from driving up with truckloads of stuff without prior arrangements, but you can arrange for pickup or drop-off by filling out an online form.
- Retailers, including Best Buy and Staples, and manufacturers, including Apple, HP and Dell are picking up the cost of shipping for old gadgets or setting aside space in stores for customers dropping off decommissioned equipment.Some retailers take back only their stuff; others charge a small fee to recycle office electronics made by any brand.
For example, Framingham, Mass.-based Staples will accept used computers and monitors, for a $10 fee, at any of its 1,400 U. S. locations during store hours. They’ll take computer peripherals (keyboards, mice and speakers ) and smaller devices such as cell phones, pagers and digital cameras for free, regardless of the brand or whether you bought it at Staples. The stores won’t, however, take televisions or floor-model copiers.
Staples said it will ship everything to New York-based Amandi Services, which it calls “one of the country’s most experienced and innovative electronics recyclers.” The Consumer Electronics Association’s Web site, MyGreen-Electronics (www.mygreenelectronics.org/RecycleCorp-Programs.aspx), offers a list of corporate recycling and take-back programs, many of which are also EPA Plug-in Partners.
The site lists charities, schools and community programs that accept donated TVs, including Goodwill Industries (which resells them) and Throwplace.com, which matches old TVs and other items with nonprofit organizations.
- A Feb. 17, federal deadline for broadcasters to shift from analog to digital high-definition signals could make millions of older analog TV sets obsolete. Among those ready to take your old TV: Habitat for Humanity, which sells sets to support building programs at its Habitat ReStores (www.habitat.org/env/restores.aspx).
The Associated Press contributed to this story.