Recycling

Recycling of computers and parts is becoming an increasing issue. Many toxic elements are contained in computers and other electronic devices which, when dumped in landfills, eventually leach into the ground and to the water supply. To prevent this an increasing number of options are becoming available for disposing of these old parts and systems. Effective January 1, 2005 the state of California is now requiring a recycling fee on computer monitors and TV sets. There are a number of places who will recycle ink and toner cartridges and either pay you for them or give you something for them such as Office Depot which will give you a ream of paper for every laser toner cartridge turned in. If you can't find someone to donate your old equipment to here are some resources for you to dispose of unwanted computers and equipment.

Before you dispose - Be sure to remove any important data from your system before you donate it. It would be embarrassing to have financial or customer info show up in public because you left it on the hard drive of an old computer. Just erasing it is not enough. Use a utility that will 'scrub' your hard drive to delete all traces of the information. Alternately you can remove the hard drive from the old system.

Computer Recycling Center - They take all computers, parts and monitors. If your computer is new enough they will take it for free. If it is not considered usable they charge a fee. Systems brought to them are used for training people to work with computers. Rebuilt systems are donated to non profits or sold to support their activities. They are at 3249 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa  707-570-1600 and their website is http://www.crc.org. I suggest you check the website for hours and limitations as well as directions and fees.

Sonoma County Landfill sites. The county dump will also take used equipment for a fee.

Goodwill is now recycling computers and other electronics such as stereos. They have multiple locations in the area.

Salvation Army will also take used electronics at many of their sites.

Hewlett Packard - HP has a recycling program which accepts both HP and non HP equipment. Check their website for details. http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/recycle/index.html

Dell Computers - Dell also has a recycling plan. Details are available at  http://www.dell.com/content/topics/reftopic.aspx/dhs/dell_recycling?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Not Sure Where to Recycle? - Check the site at earth911 and search for recycling sites in your area