Reusable Tech

Since their popular introduction to consumers nearly 30 years ago, the use of personal computing devices has grown exponentially. The addition of laptops, smartphones and tablets is expected to push worldwide numbers to nearly 2 billion in 2014, according to global information technology research and advisory company Gartner Inc. (NYSE: IT).

With each advance, however, more devices are rendered obsolete, creating a new problem – how to dispose of the old technology?

Electronic waste, referred to as e-waste, includes everything from audio-visual equipment – TVs, VCRs and DVD players – to desktop computers, monitors, keyboards, laptops and cell phones. With the recent explosion in tablet and smartphone use, refuse continues to grow.

Where does it go?
Disposal isn’t an easy process. From the high amounts of lead in older tube-style televisions, to the heavy metals contained in the circuit boards at the heart of all modern electronic devices, there are a wide variety of environmental hazards to address. Even power cords and older peripheral connection cables include multiple components that can be reused, remanufactured or recycled.  

“Nearly everything we handle has some sort of hazardous material in it,” said Luke Westerman, owner of Computer Recycling Center at 1434 N. National Ave. “These are things that – even though they originally came from the ground – you wouldn’t want going back into the environment after it has been refined. It needs to make its way through the recycling and remanufacturing process to be safely disposed of, so that it doesn’t eventually wind up back in our groundwater.”

Westerman’s company is at the forefront of local efforts to ensure technological progress doesn’t set the environment back. Specializing in the responsible management of all types of e-waste, Computer Recycling Center has successfully diverted more than 1 million pounds of solid material otherwise headed for a landfill.

Working closely with local and state agencies, Westerman’s shop is one of a handful in southwest Missouri registered with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for the safe technology recycling, disposal and the remanufacturing process. Springfield’s Altec Solutions Group Inc. and Branson-based Midwest Wholesalers Inc. are also registered with the DNR.

“When people think green, what comes to mind is traditional recycling of consumer-end paper, plastics, tin and aluminum,” Westerman said. “But e-waste is very different. We are essentially a demanufacturing facility.”

Once materials are separated, Westerman said they are then shipped to various vendors nationwide. These companies reuse or refurbish the components.

“Everything we pull from these devices has a positive or negative dollar value,” he said, emphasizing the first step in the process is destroying data securely. “Very few things return enough to completely offset the labor cost of demanufacturing, but some things – like the leaded glass in CRT monitors and mercury from fluorescents – carry a significant hard cost to us when they are shipped for processing by our vendors. We have narrowed it down enough that we charge enough to just break even on most of those difficult items.”

The softer side
With the rapidly evolving wireless revolution, much of the green work in the IT industry comes not at the end of the equipment’s life, but before it even begins. More companies are embracing wireless hardware and software solutions, resulting in less equipment that could end up in the landfill.

Springfield-based PC Net Inc. General Manager Brian Plunkett said company subsidiary 85Under provides a virtual network environment, also known as cloud hosting. This relatively new process offers leased services on servers managed remotely, which users access through high-bandwidth Internet or wireless connections.

Plunkett said many clients come in with specific ideas on how to upgrade their existing IT framework, usually by adding the traditional bigger onsite servers or workstations. However, once the client buys in to the broader business benefits of cloud computing, most appreciate the green aspects of virtual hosting.

“For businesses, having a server in the closet equates to something they have to buy, operate and maintain,” he said. “In addition to fewer materials for those machines and traditional workstations, there is a significant environmental and cost impact when you consider the energy required to spin computer hard drives and fans and run the memory that make applications go. It’s really an easy decision, once they see the big picture.”

Currently, two-thirds of midsize companies are planning or currently engaging in a move to cloud computing, according to a 2012 IBM study.   

While Plunkett said the major savings to companies comes on the operations and capital side of the ledger, a few percent in energy savings is noticed by many clients within the first few months.

The big picture
As early as 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that of the 2.37 million tons of e-waste ready for end-of-life management in the U.S., only 25 percent was recycled or remanufactured.

Westerman said while Missouri as a whole may lag behind the 25 percent national average, Springfield’s results mirror that figure. He attributes the local success to close collaboration between city and county agencies, as well as the efforts of numerous area businesses responsibly addressing the disposal of e-waste.

Westerman said a growing number of companies have begun hosting onsite collection drives for their employees, including Springfield ReManufacuring Corp., Dairy Farmers of America and Associated Electric Cooperative Inc.

He also notes many of these businesses take the extra step of paying for Computer Recycling Centers’ processing costs, which range from $2 to $20 for more labor-intensive items such as cathode ray tube monitors, big-screen TVs, microwaves and fluorescent light bulbs.

“As long as there is electronic stuff in the world, there will still be a need for places like the Computer Recycling Center,” Westerman said.