Reece Computer Systems is the first GREENspot on the San Mateo Coastside, working with ASL Recycling of San Jose and their GREENetwork.  As a GREENspot, Reece will offer unlimited, easy and free e-waste recycling at their retail office in Shoreline Station during business hours. Reece will extend their hours the weekend of April 19th and 20th, to participate in ASL Recycling’s state-wide Earth Day E-waste collection event. 

As a GREENspot, Reece will accept the following, in unlimited amounts, free of charge:

Computer Monitors
Computers
Laptop Computers
Televisions
Cell Phones
Printers
Oscilloscopes
PC Boards
Keyboards/Mice
Cables/Cords
Hard Drives
Optical Drives
Power Supplies
Stereo Components
Tape/Zip Drives
Lab Equipment
Electronic Parts
Loose PCBAs
Fax Machines
Telephones
Radios
Shredders
Microwaves
DVD/VCR Players

Hours for the Earth Day event are 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on April 19th and 20th.  Regular business hours for dropping off recycling are Monday-Saturday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Reece is located in Shoreline Station, at 225 Cabrillo Highway South, Suite 103D, Half Moon Bay, California.

Good to know - I got an old craptastic computer sitting around that I’ve been too lazy to deal with.  Would it be paranoid of me to ask what security concerns you suggest for people to take care of before bringing in their computers?  This is for old ‘puters that fail to boot to perform an fDisk.

This is wonderful news—thank you!

You know those annoying greeting cards that play music?  I notice they have electronic parts and batteries inside them.  Can these be recycled?  I know at least the batteries don’t belong in the trash.  It’s too bad that most people who have these cards lying around probably don’t even know there are batteries inside.

Our recycler crushes the hard drives before continuing the recycling process, so you can be assured your data cannot be accessed by anyone.  We accept all types of batteries, including the ones used in musical cards. 

We accept eWaste for free during regular business hours.  We hope this event will raise awareness of what can and should be recycled, and of the importance of understanding downstream recycling concerns.

Chris,

A standing on chair applauding for - Reece Computer Systems - THANK YOU!

A few years ago, I lugged my old HP LJ 4L in for recycling somewhere else - I was rather ‘ticked’ to find out that it instead made it to land fill!

Do you all take CFLs? Or do you know of somewhere that reliably recycles them?

Ken Johnson

Anneliese,

With all do respect to the guys at Reece Computer Systems, No, I don’t consider you “paranoid” - requiring the magnetic surfaces to be physically removed, that is paranoid.

It always amazes me that so few people understand that when they “delete” something, on commonly used OS, the info is not really deleted. Those same people use a shredder for all the paperwork and fail to realize the same and more info is still on the disk.

Fdisk
Presumably you entered the BIOS and the disk was recognized and possibly usable. Try moving to a functioning system in place of the primary disk - all it takes is a screwdriver, from the floppy drive run a version of DOS, FreeDOS, etc. like from a disk install from a disk vendor and run a ‘low level’ destructive formatting program and an ‘erase program’, available from drive manufacturers, and run available re-write routines for a couple of hours - still doesn’t make all data unrecoverable but few understand and are able to recover it and usually considered not worth the effort.

Remove hard drive. If it is good, be really ‘green’; try reusing. If it is a relatively new drive, install into another system as the swap files / pagefile disc on a different channel from existing disc(s) for better performance or as a mirror disc for recovery. Else use in a system or in an exterior enclosure as a backup device.

Drive is bad or simply obsolete
If the drive is bad or simply obsolete - render it unusable before recycling. Magnetically, electrically, or an old favorite: place on a block of wood, cover and give it a couple whacks with a sledge hammer—if it was a failed drive, it has the added benefit of making you feel better.
Place in a Ziploc bag disposing as e-waste.

The above applies to Junking, Donating, Giving or Selling Your Computer.

If you are donating, giving or selling the computer to another person, remember 30-40 bucks will probably replace the old drives capacity for a new user and you have peace of mind - consider the cost of identity theft.

Last step: remove battery from motherboard and place in Ziploc bag and leave in case. Because, of course, you pass word protected the BIOS, didn’t you.

BE PARANOID!

Ken Johnson

P.S.
Please, no one misunderstand, Reece Computer Systems are heroes for offering this service to our community! You simply have no way of knowing what really happens when the disk leaves their facility.

All - You all raise great points about confidentiality, privacy and downstream recycling.  I want to respond to a couple of points.

First, if you want to be absolutely sure that your personal information is protected, please wipe your hard drive clean or hire us to do it for you before it is recycled. 

Our recycler absolutely crushes everything to pieces during recycling (we have seen the process), on shore, but once the computer leaves our site the “chain of custody” leaves our control.  With that said, I would be completely confident sending my computers through this process, with my own personally identifiable information, and I have been in the business for more than 25 years.

As far as “downstream recycling” is concerned, this is a huge issue in our business.  Reece looked long and hard for a responsible recycler who (a) would not charge us for recycling and would not require us to charge our customers to recycle and (b) who did not send their recycling overseas to be recycled irresponsibly.  ASL Recyclers is the vendor we selected.  We have a full list of their few “downstream recyclers” and we would be more than happy to share that information with anyone who calls.  One of the most interesting uses for ASL’s downstream recycling is clear glass, which goes to Samsung for flat screen monitors and TVs.

By the way, for CFLs, Oceanshore Hardware will kindly take all CFLs.  I have been bringing them to Oceanshore for years. Oceanshore Hardware is a wonderful business for supporting recycling, and also takes many other items.

Terri,

Thanks for your post. I looked at ASL recycling web site after the first entry and was impressed to see their recovery process for heavy metals from monitors. How rare to find one that doesn’t irresponsibly offshore the process. Congratulations.

You wrote: “I have been in the business for more than 25 years” - well, I respect newbies <grin>. When you entered the industry, I had already been a Project Manager at Intel and Database Designer / DBA at United Airlines for their operations centre, etc.

Reece Computer Systems is doing a tremendous service for our community in keeping hazardous material out of landfill and materials properly recycled.

I wanted to wait and respond now, so that this item would be on the front page of Coastsider for the weekend event kickoff.

I look forward to meeting you.

Ken Johnson

Thanks Ken.  I realize humbly that I am a relative newcomer.  I am trying to learn as quickly as I can.  And I really appreciate the support.  This is very exciting for us - the ability to blend what we do know with our commitment to sustainability and the environment. 

I would like to meet you some time!  Come by for an espresso or capucchino and we can talk.  This is an open invitation to the community by the way.  If you want to help improve the local economy, are interested in social equity and promoting local jobs, and have a commitment to responsible environmental practices, or just want to talk about technology and how to make it work well for you - a very interesting topic - we’re here to chat. 

Terri

Sunday we finished Reece Computer Systems’s Earth Day eWaste Recycling event.  We collected more than 7 bins of eWaste, the proceeds of which will benefit the Cunha Band. Our families have gained from music, athletic and other programs at our local schools, and Reece was proud to be part of supporting this program. The next step is to weigh the eWaste, get a tally, and then Reece will presents a check to Cunha Band Boosters. It was great to see you all turn out to support Earth Day and the Cunha Band! 

“I would teach the children music, physics and philosophy, but the most important is music, for in the patterns of the arts are the keys to all learning.” Plato  

Thanks to all in the Community who supported this event.

If you missed this weekend’s recycling event, you have another big chance on June 7th to support the Coastside Farmers Market by bringing us your eWaste. The Market season starts May 3rd. Erin Tormey, the market director, tells us the market is even more amazing this year than last. I cannot wait to buy Harley Farms goat cheese, Giusti Peas and Chokes, fresh local bread, honey, olive oil, vegies, and so much more EVERY weekend, just outside my front door!

Reece Computer Systems takes your recycling every day for free.  Our regular business hours for dropping off recycling are Monday-Saturday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Reece is located in Shoreline Station (the yellow building), at 225 Cabrillo Highway South, Suite 103D, Half Moon Bay, California, 726-7155, http://www.reececomputers.com.