[greenyes] Austin's got a new computer recycling program

[Stephen Roberts <sroberts@no.address>]

FYI -- check out this article about an innovative project for computer
collection and recycling that was recently launched here in Austin, TX. The
1-year pilot project between Goodwill of Central Texas, Dell and the City of
Austin allows people to drop-off any kind of computer for FREE at Goodwill
locations in Austin, which of course helps out Goodwill, gets you a tax
donation and means your computer won't wind up in a landfill. The article
below says they'll pick them up from your house, too for $10.

Based on some conversations I've had with all three of the groups, their
goal is to make it a financially self-sustaining venture that can be
replicated in other cities.
 
The program's website is http://www.computerrecyclingproject.com
 
Here's a copy of the article that ran when it launched a few weeks ago. I
already dropped off my old 486 (yes, it was that OLD).

 
>> AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
>> Got a PC to recycle in Austin? You can request curbside pickup for $10
>> October 22, 2004
>> By Dan Zehr
>> 
>> Austin's latest recycling program won't leave many excuses for the stack of
>> computer equipment in the garage.
>> 
>> The city, Dell Inc. and Goodwill Industries of Central Texas today will
>> announce a partnership that expands the nonprofit's current PC recycling
>> program to include a $10 curbside pickup service.
>> 
>> The three partners said the curbside pickup is the first of its kind in Texas
>> and only one of a handful of similar programs nationwide.
>> 
>> "Replacing old computers is getting cheaper," said Jerry Hendrix, spokesman
>> for the Austin Solid Waste Services Department. "More people are buying new
>> computers, so more have older computers they need to get rid of."
>> 
>> Dell is the world's largest computer maker, and Goodwill is a large computer
>> recycler, receiving about 20,000 systems per year in Central Texas.
>> 
>> The curbside pickup program makes recycling easier and cheaper, Hendrix said,
>> increasing the chances that computers will end up being reused instead of
>> deposited in a landfill.
>> 
>> Goodwill expects pickup service could increase the number of donated
>> computers by half. The City of Austin found in a survey that more than
>> one-third of its roughly 692,000 residents had computers to dispose of and
>> that 84 percent of them would prefer to give the systems to a charity.
>> 
>> The hardest part is getting the equipment from the house to the recycling
>> center. Under the new program, Austin residents have to do little more than
>> make a phone call and a $10 payment.
>> 
>> Dell put up a small grant for the program, spokesman Bryant Hilton said, but
>> all three partners expect the program to become self-sustaining. The company
>> hopes to use the program as a model of a low-cost, public-private partnership
>> it can replicate in other cities and towns to promote recycling.
>> 
>> Beginning Monday, Austin residents can call (866) 487-3873 to learn about
>> Goodwill's drop-off locations or set a curbside-pickup date. The city's solid
>> waste department will schedule the pickup, then Goodwill representatives will
>> come and collect the equipment.
>> 
>> Residents will receive a bill for $10 to help cover the cost of the pickups.
>> They also are responsible for removing data stored on the computers.
>> 
>> People living outside the city's limits can drop off their old computers at
>> one of 37 Goodwill locations in Central Texas.
>> 
>> As it does with its current recycling program, Goodwill will take the
>> computers, refurbish them and sell them at its Computer Works store.
>> 
>> On Nov. 22, it's opening to a new store at 1015 Norwood Park Blvd. The
>> charity recycles computers it can't refurbish, using an approved electronics
>> recycler.
>> 
>> Goodwill uses the roughly $200,000 in profit each year it gets from reselling
>> donated PCs through its Computer Works stores to help job seekers with resume
>> preparation, and interviewing and job skills, spokesman Malcomb Gardner said.
>> 
>> The organization works with 200 employers in the area, he said, seeking to
>> place most of its 7,400 clients, many of them disabled, in jobs that pay
>> about $10 to $12 an hour.

-- 
Stephen Roberts, Account Supervisor
Tuerff-Davis EnviroMedia Inc.
sroberts@no.address

Advertising and PR with a conscience.
http://www.enviromedia.com