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Date: Sunday, 24 April 2005

Title: Alternative school turns to 'e-waste' recycling

Source: http://www.lebanondailyrecord.com

Remarks: None

"E-waste" isn't a household term yet, but most folks either own some of it or likely know someone who does. Old computers, monitors and a range of electronic accessories and gadgets that either don't work or simply aren't used anymore have been piling up in landfills across the country in recent years, posing potential health risks because of the chemicals and materials used to make them. For the past two months, about 40 students at the Lebanon Alternative Education Center and the adjoining Human Resource Development Center have been getting an education in e-waste recycling as they disassemble many of the R-3 School District's old computers. Armed with drills and screwdrivers, students extract components and raw materials such as copper and tin that are then sold to the Computer Recycling Center in Springfield. "We were looking to expand into different areas and bring in more work for the school," explained the HRDC's director, Roger Moore, who hopes the recycling project will help the school serve more students this fall. Now in its fifth year, the HRDC is designed to keep students from dropping out of school by allowing them to earn money and learn job skills in its workshop while attending classes at the alternative school. While students have done work in a variety of industries over the years, Moore says the e-waste recycling project has several benefits, including the fact that students are gaining experience in an industry that is still in its infancy. Students also have the knowledge that they are helping the environment as they work, he said. The e-waste recycling program also has the potential to generate a little money for the school, which Moore says will be re-invested into the school. "The money that's paid for the scrap will be brought back into the HRDC, and we'll put that back into the program," he said. "Right now, for example, we're working with minimal tools, so we'll buy more power drills and things like that. We also use it to pay wages for some of the kids, because they do get paid while they're here." However, students have found that, just like conventional recycling programs, it takes a lot of e-waste to turn a profit. "We get a lot of tin, but that's only worth 2 1/2 cents per pound," explained student Dallas Barnetti, whose job is to collect components students remove from the computers and sort them into bins. The amount of money gleaned from each computer is "not too much," according to Barnetti. "The price of the metals vary," he said. "The heavier things are worth about 3 cents per pound -- the power boxes, the drives and things like that. Then there are the cord ends, the insulated copper wiring and the circuit boards, which are all worth 25 cents a pound. ... You need a lot of computers." Moore said the program started precisely because the school district had a lot of outdated computers and no place to put them. "They had computers that were being taken to the dump because we didn't have anything we could do with them," Moore said. "Ron Hough, who is our computer-repair instructor over at the Lebanon Technology and Career Center, and (his students) would basically break them down, get the parts that worked and the rest of the parts they had to get rid of." Moore said that after learning about the Computer Recycling Center through a news report, he, along with Lebanon Technology and Career Center Director Gail Holcomb and Alternative Education Center Director Mike Postlewait made a trip to Springfield and received some valuable advice from its executive director, Ken Reiss. "Originally what we were looking at was doing it all ourselves, trying to find the companies and things like that," Moore said. "Fortunately, Mr. Reiss said 'if you want to break 'em down, I'll buy it from you.' So it just worked out very well that he was willing to do that, and he's been a great help in getting it started." The nonprofit Springfield center has only been in existence for about three years but already has become the leader in e-waste recycling in the state, Reiss said. He said the center works with a number of schools, which often have a surplus of outdated computers. "High tech scrap dealers is actually what we are," Reiss said. "We sell the materials that are used in the secondary market. ... At our facility, we completely de-manufacture and disassemble everything, and we also buy and sell some scrap. "When you disassemble all of these parts and you get ready to sell the aluminum, the copper, the tin, the circuit boards and all the other items, it has to be done on a large-quantity basis. A small operation like Lebanon won't produce the volume needed, but if they join with us and we can buy from them as we do from a number of other school districts, we can bump it up. We're starting to work with more schools. We get a lot calls and a lot of inquiries from trade schools and community college to do this type of thing." Reiss said the Lebanon students are still learning how to properly disassemble a dizzying array of computer models. "It's still a learning process," he said. "It seems simple to take a PC and disassemble it. You're just turning a screwdriver to the left -- that's all you're basically doing. But there's probably 600 to 700 different manufactures, different styles and kinds of PCs, so each one is different. Each one that's in front of the student is a different situation, so it involves a lot of hand-eye coordination, motor skills -- it's a learning process. It's very good for the students to be able to see that problem and solve that problem in front of them." The HRDC is now looking for businesses to donate outdated computers to its e-waste recycling program. Moore said the school will take most computers and accessories free of charge, but noted that the HRDC does charge a $12 fee for each computer monitor because they have to be disposed of at a special facility. "Businesses can drop their computers off at the school, but here's going to be a charge for the monitor," Moore said. "Once somebody gets rid of a monitor, it's considered hazardous material, and as a business or a company you're not supposed to drop that into a landfill or into you Dumpster. So, we're going to have to charge them $12 per monitor, and basically that's to pay (the Computer Recycling Center) to transport that for us." Reiss said that under state law, it is illegal for businesses to discard computer monitors in a landfill. "The reason for that is that the monitors do contain lead -- there is approximately five pounds of lead per computer monitor," Reiss said. "Legally, businesses and individuals can dispose of computers -- the mice, the keyboards and other components into the landfill -- but there's really no sense in doing that with our facilities in Springfield and now with us kind of joining with the Lebanon Public Schools for kind of a private program here. It's also giving employment and an educational opportunity for the students here, so we're really thrilled to join with them and we want to help in any way we can." Moore said the school also plans to hold monthly drop-offs for individual computer owners beginning in June. "For individuals, we're going to have a monthly drop off at the first of each month, an they can drop them off right at the back of the school at the loading dock," he said. "Again, if they drop off a monitor, there is going to be a charge for that. We want to really push the idea that the monitors should not be thrown in a Dumpster. It creates serious problems for the landfills, and we encourage people not to dump them."