In 2006 and 2007, of the 2.25 million tons of TVs, cell phones and computer products that Americans disposed of, only 18 percent was collected for recycling, leaving 82 percent to be thrown in landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Recycling Coordinator for Marion County Bailey Payne says that while electronics make up a relatively small part of our waste, it's one of the fastest growing sectors of the waste stream.
E-waste that ends up in landfills, besides taking up valuable space, has a more negative impact on the environment than other, more organic waste.

"Electronic devices often contain lead, mercury, cadmium and other dangerous substances," Payne said. "Recycling electronics not only keeps these toxic substances from causing health and environmental problems, but it puts the metals, plastics and other materials to a good use."
Garten Services has been recycling electronics locally for several years. Last year, they received 532 tons of electronics for recycling.  
By June of this year they had already processed 130 tons of "e-waste."  

Garten has contracts with the state of Oregon, Marion County and seven other surrounding counties to provide e-recycling.

Garten Services

In 1970, Sally Gearhart founded Garten Services, Inc. to serve children with special needs. That small program grew to become a certified Qualified Rehabilitation Facility in the `80s and opened its business model to include employment services to help people with disabilities work in local businesses. Ninety percent of the staff is made up of developmentally disabled members.
Garten employees provide one-on-one training to each individual, slowly transitioning from trainer to mentor to supervisor.

"Key staff [have] gone through training with our business partnerships.  Most receive hands-on training and then bring that knowledge back to the rest of the staff," said Grell.

The state contract for electronics recycling was implemented in December of 2007 and Garten has already had to expand its operations.

"We started very small with just the triage team of three to four people, " said Pete Grell, the Recycling Operations Supervisor at Garten. "We then expanded to include a day shift of nine more people. And then just six weeks later we added another shift."

Garten Services hopes to keep expanding so they can keep up with the growing need of e-recycling.

"The state and the nation as a whole are looking at e-waste because of the evolution of technology. We feel comfortable knowing that the computers end up being handled in a safe manner for the environment," Matthews said.

A dying computer's journey

The recycling process begins at the receiving dock, where electronics are weighed and their reusability checked. If their only hope is to be recycled, systems are disassembled and hard drives are wiped. Garten employees use the U.S. Department of Defense's process to ensure privacy. If a hard drive cannot be immediately erased, the equipment is locked in a secure area until it can be processed.

If a computer has working components, Garten uses them to put together a fully working computer. Depending on the computer's origin, Garten sends it to one of two outside vendors. If the equipment originated from a state agency, it is sent to the state surplus store, where another
public agency can purchase the equipment.

"The State Surplus has the ability to use refurbished equipment in agencies to save taxpayer money. Not all state agencies have the funding for brand new computers," said John Matthews, Garten Sustainability Coordinator & Recycling Advisor.

The other computers are sent to American Computer Solutions (ACS), a Salem store, which places the equipment on eBay. Garten earns 75 percent of the revenue from computers sold through their arrangement with ACS and 50 percent from the State Surplus Program.

Baby computers can help, too

Considering the impact your computer has on the environment is not something that has to start when you are getting ready to throw away your old one. One local company is hoping that by building computers that last many years, fewer will end up in landfills.

"The big manufacturers like Dell have to do volume. They don't want to build a computer that is going to last for years and years, because [consumers] won't come back to buy another one. They are disposable units, on purpose. They survive on volume, instead of service work.  We're the opposite," Jeremy Sigel, owner of KFE Microsystems, said.

Companies like KFE Microsystems sell complete systems that come from used parts.

And like Garten, KFE helps consumers recycle old equipment.

"We like to keep things circulating as much as possible. All of our computers come with a seven-year warranty and lifetime recycling."
"While many of the major manufacturers want consumers to think they need the latest and greatest, e-mail and Internet browsing can be done on older systems," Sigel said.