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Red Streak - August 2004
Old PCs not just high-tech landfill fodder
 Every
week, 200,000 to 400,000 pounds of discarded computers,
docking stations, TVs, telecom equipment and other detritus
of the electronic age are trucked into Intercon Solutions,
a recycling company on Chicago's West Side.
There, on an assembly line run in reverse, crews of
"demanufacturing" workers, paid $12 to $20 per hour,
strip down gear that possibly only two years ago was
someone's shiny new tool or toy. In an average of 90
seconds, they take apart computers, separating CPUs,
speakers, modems and the like into the large bins.
Parts go to private smelting operations for recycling.
In some cases, Intercon pays to dispose of potentially
hazardous materials -- lead, chromium, cadmium, mercury
and flame retardants.
Brian Brundage, 32, is CEO of Intercon, which has recycled
electronics since 1987. He said Intercon pays other
companies to recycle materials by charging $20 for each
computer, including monitor, CPU and printer. It gets
a small fee from smelters for iron and aluminum.
"People are surprised when they hear that companies
pay to have their computers recycled," Brundage said.
"But most consumer electronics actually have a negative
value. The costs of processing are not offset by the
value of raw materials."
Intercon is part of a growing industry aimed at controlling
the mess created by a technological society. E-waste,
potentially toxic residue, is the fastest growing part
of municipal trash.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, an environmental
group, estimates consumer electronics accounts for 70
percent of heavy metals, including 40 percent of the
lead, in landfills. The problem has taken on an international
scope as old computers have been shipped to China and
elsewhere, where environmental hazards are being created.
For example, an environmental group found that copper
was harvested from wires by burning the insulation and
releasing toxins.
 Brundage
said Intercon prides itself on "zero landfill tolerance.
Everything we generate has raw- or base-metal value.
Everything we remove is reused."
He said the only way to get to these materials is by
dismantling equipment so smelters can reclaim materials,
such as lead solder or metals on speakers.
Brundage said metal may be recycled to build cars and
high-rises and plastics end up in "lumber" used in park
benches and decks.
He said most of Intercon's clients are Fortune 500
companies and large organizations that feel a social
responsibility to recycle electronics. Some major manufacturers,
which he declined to identify, also send equipment that's
been replaced by newer technology, hoping to keep the
old stuff off the secondary market, where it can be
a drag on new-equipment prices.
What about consumers?
Brundage said consumers are not considered a major
source for e-waste. In most jurisdictions, they are
free to toss out computers with the trash. But he said
that likely will change in the years ahead.
"Consumers are not a core business. We're not aggressively
pursuing that market, but we're not going to turn them
away," he said. Intercon will recycle electronics for
consumers starting at a minimum charge of $100 for five
computers.
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