Disposal of Used Computer Equipment

[Marty Cormack]

I was wondering if any of my colleagues had any safe, legal, environmentally friendly and ethical, but creative ideas on how to dispose of their used computer equipment. For example, the straightforward way for me to dispose of our equipment is to take it to the Olmsted County recycling center, and pay the 30 cents per pound institutional disposal fee. Since I have quite a number of 20+ pound obsolete computer monitors to dispose of, my budget is going to be quickly blown after my first load.

Obviously, equipment disposal should be built into the cost of doing IT business, but I am wondering if there are any tips on how to keep those costs to the minimum required to do the disposal responsibly.

Thanks.

[Jeff Thompson]

Maren Sansgaard
Asset Recovery Corporation
[phone] toll-free
[phone] local
[phone] fax
www.assetrecoverycorp.com
Maren Sansgaard

[Bryan Berg]

Marty -

Asset Recovery is a great option. I've used them before (many times) and you can take equipment up to St. Paul, or you can schedule them to come down and pick up your stuff. You pay their mileage fee when you go that route, so Asset Recovery has scheduled what have been called "Milk Runs" so that several schools have equipment picked up by the company and they all split the cost for the mileage fees. Price per pound for disposal by Asset Recovery has generally been in the $0.18 - $0.25 per pound range. Schools commonly tear down equipment so that the non-hazardous parts (screws, cases, metal casings, etc) can be tossed normally, and all that's left for Asset Recovery is the system boards. Saves a lot on weight.

Another option for proper disposal is the Computers For Schools group (http://www.mncfs.org/), which operate out of the Stillwater Prison campus. They take much (but not all) equipment for free. Monitors are $8 for disposal. They'll have a rep at the next meeting (Jim Christenson).

[Corey J. Mattson]

We use a company in IA for our disposal. All it costs us is the gas to drive the stuff down there - no per pound charge as the company refurbishes the equipment. I believe the name of the company is Spectrum Industries in Decorah, IA and can post more info if anyone's interested.

Corey

[Jeffrey Oian]

Minnesota Computers for Schools usually takes stuff for free also. They will be represented at the next meeting, so you could ask questions there. They have not charged a fee for anything since May 2008. Once in a while they will charge for the monitors, but I don't think they ever charge for computers. They will only take computers and monitors.

[Jeffrey Oian]

Sorry - I didn't see Bryan's reply.

[Marty Cormack]

FYI, the Asset Recovery Corp prices for disposal are state contracted prices and are very good, for example $0.17/lb for monitors. This is way better than the $0.30/lb that Olmsted County would charge. Unfortunately for me, private schools are charged the full price, or $0.35/lb, so in my case Olmsted County is a better deal.