Tossed any PCs lately?
Brad Thompson, Contributing Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 7/1/2003
Once each week, I travel to a dusty and dimly lit former tire factory located in Windsor, VT, and join a group of volunteers at WinCycle, a nonprofit computer-recycling organization.
We sort through stacks of castoff personal computers, refurbishing the majority for schools and other nonprofit groups, and selling others at modest prices to people who couldn't otherwise afford a computer. In the process, we keep functional PCs out of the ever-growing trash stream for a few more years.
| Read more about Brad's work at the computer recycling facility: "You can't shrink heat," "So, where's the mercury?" |
By industry standards, our final-test procedures are laughably primitive. We erase and reformat each PC's hard-disk drive, install a new operating system, measure the CMOS clock battery's voltage, and check each CRT display for intermittents by thumping its cabinet. Nonworking PCs undergo card swapping or other rough-and-ready diagnostics before consignment to a recycling bin.
Rejected hardware goes to ElectroniCycle, a Gardner, MA-based recycling and resource-reclamation company for further recovery and disposal of potentially hazardous materials such as leaded-glass CRT envelopes.
WinCycle (www.wincycle.org) is short of funds to purchase replacement ink and toner for printers, a problem that will get worse as printer manufacturers gravitate to "smart" proprietary-only consumables. Also, we need older versions of licensable operating systems for PCs. A beginner-friendly version of Linux might solve the latter problem.
So, who could use an older PC? Probably not families whose kids are "good with computers," which upon further probing translates to, "Well, he [invariably "he"] can rack up really high scores in 'Quake'." Although too slow for shoot-'em-up games, a 100-MHz Macintosh or PC works fine as a general-purpose computing platform, a text editor, or as an e-mail reader bringing solace to Grandma. And even a poky PC could become a powerful tool in the hands of a budding Bill Hewlett, Steve Jobs, or William Shakespeare, paying huge dividends to society a few years hence.
How can you help? For starters, contact local nonprofit organizations and volunteer your test-engineering skills. Thrift stores may have stacks of donated PCs that need attention, or you just might find yourself starting a local version of "WinCycle." Keep those old PCs flying!
Brad Thompson, Contributing Technical Editor brad@tmworld.com
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