Bad news this week from The Cristina Foundation:
We regret to inform you that we have been unsuccessful in placing your donated equipment listed below.
Several notices were sent to partner organizations in your area however none were able to accept your equipment at this time.
To dispose of your equipment you can go to Dell Recycling and follow their instructions or to E-cycling Central for information in your state about groups who might be able to recycle your computer equipment.
Aside from the suggestions offered in the email above, there are a couple of other options to try:
- My local Sanitation Department’s electronics recycling day
- Craigslist -probably in the free section
Volunteers in Portland, Oregon, have found their own solution. Free Geek, a not-for-profit community organization, was founded eight years ago to recycle computer technology and provide low and no-cost computing to individuals and not-for-profit and social change organizations. So far Free Geek has recycled over 1,500 tons of electronic scrap and refurbished over 15,000 computer systems that are now in use by individuals and organizations in the community. The computers are loaded with GNU/Linux operationg systems and free software.
Most of the work is done by about 500 active volunteers, and anyone who puts in 24 hours of volunteer time can “adopt” a computer.
Free Geek is in the process of trademarking their name, and nine similar organizations in the US and Canada have been accepted as Free Geeks. If you think you’d like to start a similar program, you can apply.
As time goes on, more and more products will be designed with the end of their lifecycle planned as carefully as the initial use is. Until then, we just have to do the best we can.
