Drake H&S Pays a Visit to
Local E-Waste Recycling Facilities
jennifer@drakehs.com

Drake Hardware & Software Recycling Week is June 18th - June 21st. Stay tuned for updates on times and locations!

Words peppered with thumps, clatters, and the occasional whine of drills, Midwest Electronic Recovery (MER) co-owner Dave Long treated Drake Hardware & Software to a tour of the recycling facilities last Friday. MER employees busily demolished printers into their essential parts in one of four large outbuildings at the three-acre Walford, Iowa location while he explained the finer details of electronic waste recycling.

Each day, electronic waste arriving at the facility is 'demanufactured': taken apart by hand and sorted into individual components. Electronic waste comes in all forms, from computer monitors, television sets and old entertainment centers to CPU's, printers, servers, fax machines, copiers, and more. According to MER, "if it has a circuit board, MER can recycle it." Individual pieces are then shipped to other businesses, where usable raw materials are extracted: plastic, glass, aluminum, copper, and other metals.

Virtually all of Midwest Electronic Recovery collected E-Waste is shipped to processing companies in the United States. Only a small percentage of material is shipped to other countries, due to the lack of processing plants for certain types of plastic in the United States.

Where are these 'raw materials' in my computer?

CRT monitors contain a large amount of glass from the tube, plastic in the housings and lead from within the glass casing. Wiring from the unit also contains copper.

Computer towers have a large plastic and metal housing that can be demanufactured and recycled. Sheet metal is extracted from smaller internal components, copper from the internal wiring, and aluminum from internal heat sinks (which helped keep your computer's processor cool) may also be re-used. In addition, a very small amount of platinum can be obtained from the circuit boards. Bet you never knew your computer was worth so much in pieces!

But what about my hard drive?

Even if I deleted my information before I recycled my machine,
am I still at risk?

Hard drives within recycled computer towers go through a step-by-step process to make sure that the disk is completely wiped clean. If necessary, however, Midwest Electronic Recovery can go as far as completely destroying the hard drive.

The CRT Recycling Process

Midwest Electronic Recovery operates the only in-house CRT processing machinery in Iowa. During the process, the individual tube is shattered and sorted by the machinery into its raw materials. Government-certified HEPA filtration systems protect the employees and the environment from the harmful gases contained in each tube. CRT's contain lead, barium, mercury, cadmium and phosphorous, all of which lead to the reason why it is illegal and dangerous to open a CRT without government certification.

Did you know that a large CRT can contain up to five pounds of lead? Lead is mixed into the CRT glass for two reasons:

• It improves the optical quality of the glass. Leaded crystal and lenses for eyeglasses also contain a small amount of lead.
• Lead acts as a shield against the radiation generated by the electron gun and beam within the CRT.

Within an operational CRT, lead is harmless. However, when a computer or television monitor is improperly disposed of, even a small amount of lead may cause lead poisoning and can contaminate groundwater sources near landfills where they are dumped.

How Can You Help?

Choose to recycle your obsolete electronic equipment and CRT televisions and computer monitors. Recycled electronic waste provides a myriad of raw glass, metal, and plastic that can be re-used. Why throw away all that perfectly good material? Technology and computer businesses in your area may offer an e-waste or CRT recycling program. Check with your state Department of Natural Resources or local environmental protection agencies to find a recycling program near you. Some recyclers even offer to pick up large pieces or large amounts of e-waste, though usually fees do apply.

Spread the word. Encourage your friends and family to follow your example. If you own or work for a business of any size and you currently don't have a recycling program, start one! Your out-of-date or broken computer components can find new life elsewhere, leaving you with more room in your supply closets and tech rooms.

Find out where your recycled materials are going. Ask questions. Help provide a market for recycled materials and recycling plants in America, to encourage others to follow in your footsteps. E-waste recyclers like Midwest Electronic Recovery, who choose USA processing over shipping materials overseas, contend with much higher processing fees. Right now, some plastics utilized in computer towers can't even be recycled in the U.S. and must be shipped overseas simply because there is no plant in America that can process the material.

With more popularity and widespread implementation, however, we hope that will change.

We're Ready to Help You!

Do you have obsolete or broken electronic items taking up space in your home? If so, Drake Hardware & Software currently collects electronic waste for recycling on the first Tuesday of every month. To find out more or to let us know about a large drop-off for the next E-Waste Recycling, give us a call!