Recycling / Distribution Services
As a service to corporations and to its constituents TFA-Houston provides computer recycling and distribution services. Each year an estimated 1 million new computers or more will be installed on the desks of corporations and in homes across the greater Houston area. A new PC, like new clothing or new cooking equipment, means that for many corporations and consumers the PC being replaced is no longer needed. TFA-Houston can “redeploy” many of those PCs and related peripherals in service to Houston’s underserved and under-resourced communities.
Through a “learn and earn” program youth and other students affiliated with local community technology centers recycle computers and other peripherals donated to TFA. To protect corporate and personal data hard drives are erased and certified as so to donors, equipment is tested and repaired, and operating system software transferred with the machines is reinstalled.
Pentium III class machines or faster can be redeployed in community technology centers or used in “learn and earn” programs to provide a computer at home for a deserving student. For a complete list of acceptable computers for redeployment, click here. PCs that have reached the end of their useful life or have become obsolete have to be disposed through EPA-approved methods. TFA-Houston works with corporations and consumers to properly donate, recycle, and dispose of computer equipment to benefit both society and the environment.
There are three reasons why finding the appropriate way to discard old computer equipment is important:
* In the U.S. 63.3 million computer desktops will be taken out of service this year alone, according to the National Safety Council and the EPA. Eighty-five per cent of them will end up in landfills across the country, constituting an ever-growing environmental hazard.
* Each computer dumped in a landfill is a missed opportunity to provide people affected by the digital divide with tools to participate in the Information Age.
* Donate computers to a recycler, refurbisher and community intermediary like Technology For All-Houston rather than directly to a school or nonprofit. Out-of-date computer systems can be more of a burden than a blessing to these organizations, as it costs them up to $400 to bring a computer below Pentium level up to today's standards.
For more information about TFA-Houston’s recycling/distribution services or donating computer equipment to TFA-Houston on behalf of Houston’s underserved communities, call (713) 454-6400 and speak with Douglas Caldwell (douglas.caldwell@techforall.org).
