Responsible Recycling
While it is one of the aims of FreeGeek Columbus to responsibly recycle as much of donated equipment as possible, we also keep computers out of the landfill by refurbishing and redistributing them for reuse.
Computers are great tools, but they're made of all sorts of nasty stuff, like Beryllium which can damage bones and cause cancer, Cadmium which can cause kidney, liver, bone, and blood damage, Hexavalent Chromium which can damage liver, kidney, and nerve tissues, and Lead which can cause vascular and kidney disease, and brain disorders in young children.
"Discarded computers and electronics are toxic hazardous waste. The 315 million or more computers that have or will become obsolete contain a total of more than 1.2 billion pounds of lead. About 40% of the heavy metals, including lead, mercury and cadmium, in landfills come from electronic equipment discards. The health effects of lead are well known; just 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury can contaminate 20 acres of a lake, making the fish unfit to eat."
Quoted from http://www.computertakeback.com/the_problem/index.cfm
The good news is that a lot of the stuff inside computers can be reused! Any computer equipment, working or not, can be donated to FreeGeek Columbus. We will repair and reuse what computers we can, in order to extend the usefulness of individual parts. Computers and parts that are deemed obsolete or broken are demanufactured and separated into their basic components. FreeGeek Columbus then works with local industrial recyclers to process the materials.
Donations to FreeGeek Columbus should never end up in a landfill. FreeGeek Columbus works with companies that we are confident are handling the materials in an environmentally responsible manner.
According to the Ohio EPA:
if you should decide to dispose of computers and monitors, you could be
considered a generator of hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA). RCRA requires generators of solid wastes
containing toxic constituents (such as lead and barium) to determine
whether or not the waste is hazardous by using generator knowledge or by
testing representative samples of that waste. If you do not test used
computers and monitors and prove them non-hazardous, you must assume they
are hazardous waste and dispose of them at a permitted hazardous waste
facility or recycle them.
If you donate your old and obsolete computer equipment to FreeGeek Columbus, you can rest assured that it will be handled responsibly!
