Media Coverage
THIS IS VERY ROUGH...it will be edited and split out into various pages with disclaimers...I'm working on it...Pete 20:05, 9 Mar 2006 (PST)
The Oregonian's web site does not permit searching anything older than 14 days. This page, as of March '06, collects Oregonian stories that are about or directly relevant to Free Geek. It is collected from the NewsBank service. Anybody with a Multnomah County Library card can access this archive for free at through their web site. It's a bit confusing...you can ask me if you like...-Pete
editorial 2001
Not about Free Geek, though we get a mention. This is relates to Legislation.
KILL YOUR TV? NOT THIS CENTURY
Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) July 29, 2001 Estimated printed pages: 2
Summary: Oregon needs a new "bottle bill" and recycling plan for computers, televisions and other lead-filled equipment
Oregon has a massive, all-out recycling effort for cans and bottles, but not for computers or televisions. Strange?
Strange hardly begins to describe it, considering the volume of outdated and lead-filled machines headed for Oregon landfills. This state needs a way to recycle these cumbersome machines that is even more comprehensive than the 30-year-old bottle recycling tradition. Sticking to pop bottles and ignoring computers won't cut it any longer. In proverbial terms, this is called keeping an eye on the sparrow while the albatross whops you from behind.
Oregon is working with other states to find a regional -- or national -- solution to recyling and disposing old computers and other electronic equipment, as The Oregonian's Michelle Cole recently reported.
One promising idea is a "bottle bill" for computers that would require a deposit upon purchase, redeemable when the computer is returned to the manufacturer or retailer for recycling. It's one good idea few have heard about, and could be expanded to cover the new wave of high-definition TVs crowding into stores. Unfortunately, industry lobbyists squashed the legislative bills that could have enabled this effort. The lobbyists don't want manufacturers to be held responsible for their products.
This is understandable, but sellers and buyers alike are responsible for recycling the electronic equipment that fills Oregon's homes and businesses. The typical computer monitor or television screen holds 5 to 8 pounds of lead, packed behind the screen to shield viewers from X-rays. The bulky equipment teems with other metals and harmful compounds, not to mention everlasting plastic.
Know what happens to your work computer when you get a new one? Know where your broken TV goes after you set it by the curb?
We hadn't given it much thought, either. But with an estimated 1.1 million old computers stored in Oregonians' basements and closets, and with new television technology rendering the old television and VCRs obsolete, we must.
Any system of recycling has plenty of room for private ingenuity. HewlettPackard Co. leads the pack today with a take-back program it started in May. It allows consumers to ship any manufacturers' computer equipment to them, and dismantles and recycles the parts. The response is reportedly enthusiastic, but the fee of $13 to $34 and the inconvenience of shipping makes it a welcome but partial solution.
An even better deal is a computer take-back program run by a non-profit group in Portland called Free Geek (see www.freegeek.com). They take old computers for a $5 donation, and say they've recycled more than 32 tons in less than a year. Impressive.
The trick is to make it as easy for consumers to recycle their electronic equipment as it is to throw it away. As Oregon has discovered, that means everything from curbside pickup and store dropoffs to recycling bins in offices and restaurants.
At one time, this seemed like a lot of trouble for a bunch of little cans. Now, it's hard to imagine anything less. While most states keep dumping their fuzzy TVs and slow Macs, Oregon could set a new kind of example. Edition: SUNRISE Section: EDITORIAL Page: F04 Index Terms: Editorial Copyright (c) 2001 Oregonian Publishing Co. Record Number: 0107280056
OpenURL Article Bookmark (right click, and copy the link location): KILL YOUR TV? NOT THIS CENTURY
Oregonian Nov 2000
nov 2000
NONPROFIT GIVES OLD COMPUTERS NEW LIFE Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) November 19, 2000 Author: RICHARD COLBY of the Oregonian Staff Estimated printed pages: 2
Summary: The Free Geek organization will update and find a new owner for an old machine, or simply recycle the parts Free Geek is a nonprofit organization that does just what its name suggests. For nothing but a suggested $5 donation, it takes in people's obsolete computers and sends them in one of two directions:
If the machines are obsolete, they're passed on to a materials recycler. If they're still usable after refurbishing, they go to new owners in exchange for the recipients' volunteer time. Oso, a Southeast Portland man with no other name but with a lot of experience in community activism, thinks the best use of computer gear, like everything else, is reuse.
A former architect who once worked with computer-aided design equipment, Oso started Free Geek this year to do something with friends' old computers that he thought should be reused. The computers were stacking up in his dining room.
On Saturday, Oso held an open house in Free Geek's rented storefront at 1731 S.E. 10th Ave., site of a former computer shop that went out of business.
Since opening Sept. 1, Free Geek has taken in "well over 1,000 pieces of equipment," Oso said, including computer innards, keyboards and monitors. It also has attracted about 20 volunteer "geeks" to help reassemble them, install the Linux Operating System and teach others to use them.
Linux offers many features comparable to Microsoft Windows or the Macintosh Operating System, Oso said, but in keeping with Free Geek's philosophy, the software has no licensing fees.
In exchange for 12 volunteer hours, Free Geek gives refurbished computers to people who otherwise couldn't afford them, Oso said.
If the recipients are new to computers, he insists they take classes to understand the free equipment well enough so that it doesn't go back into a closet again, unused and forgotten.
If donated equipment is really old -- say it has a mid-1980s Intel 286 microprocessor inside --Free Geek will turn it over to Quantum Resource Recovery in Beaverton. The salvage operation breaks them apart and recovers metals, glass, plastics and lead for reuse.
To an environmental activist such as Oso, giving up those old computers has a positive side: "Some of that older equipment isn't too energy-efficient, so we don't really feel too bad about getting it into recycling."
Starting with Intel 386 computers, Free Geek tries refurbishing, replacing hard drives and random-access memories that might have been stripped by the previous owners to augment newer devices.
Free Geek also accepts the old Macintosh Apple models but doesn't attempt to repair or redistribute them. Because its volunteer resources are limited, Oso's organization sends the old Macs to another nonprofit organization in Eugene for refurbishing and distribution.
Free Geek's Web site is www.freegeek.org. You can reach Richard Colby at 503-294-5961 or by e-mail at dickcolby@news.oregonian.com. Edition: SUNRISE Section: LOCAL STORIES Page: C14 Index Terms: Internet Profile; FREE GEEK Copyright (c) 2000 Oregonian Publishing Co. Record Number: 0011190027
Oregonian, August 2000
A COMPUTER HORROR STORY Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) August 19, 2000 Estimated printed pages: 2
Summary: Stop! Don't throw away that maddening machine, and don't let it sit and gather dust. Here's an exit strategy
Computers don't go to digital heaven when they die. Instead, most serve a long sentence in purgatory -- your attic, your garage, your closet. Then, and only then (a little organ music, please: here's where the horror-story finish comes) they're buried alive in a landfill.
We're using the word "alive" loosely, of course. The devilish machine may may have crashed -- and burned you -- so many times you've wished it dead. Still, don't toss it into the trash. If you bought your computer after 1995, it's probably not brain-dead yet. Fixed up, it could do a brilliant imitation of shiny and new in someone else's life.
Even if your computer is truly extinct, it may be possible to recycle the parts. A few wildly successful collection drives have been held, a few visionaries are tinkering around in this arena, but there aren't exactly any curbside bins yet. It's still inconvenient.
For this reason, as The Oregonian's Trevor Maxwell reported recently, computers are arriving in landfills at a brisk clip. Two hundred thousand are tossed out in Oregon every year, and the situation is only going to get worse.
All those computers add up to tons of toxic materials. But computer ingredients -- lead, mercury, cadmium compounds -- aren't called "heavy metals" for nothing.
Although they pose a theoretical threat to water supplies, and are certainly implicated in the water problems in the Silicon Valley, the more immediate threat is that computers will gobble up too much landfill space. By 2002, U.S. officials expect more than 50 million computers to become obsolete every year. Many will be thrown away.
That's daunting. But we shouldn't feel buried by the problem. It's one that demands a little elbow grease and ingenuity. Already, for example, Goodwill Industries is using old, donated computers to teach inner-city teens computer-doctoring skills. That's exciting.
It's a form of recycling that doesn't just electrify computers, but also some kids, who may have felt equally left on the shelf. We'd like to see more such experiments.
Equally creative is Portland's own newest computer-recycling service, Free Geek, soon to be a nonprofit (www.freegeek.org). It will gladly take your computer off your hands, refurbish it -- asking a $5 donation only if it's a hopeless case -- and give it to someone else. In return, that person must donate some hours.
In other good news, computer manufacturers may seem deaf to your complaints, but there are signs they are paying attention to their bulk-order customers, businesses that are fed up with investing in constant upgrades. Have you seen the TV advertisements for Gateway computers, offering upgrades as part of the initial package? We like the sound of that.
Meanwhile, where are the environmentalists when you need them? A few champions for electronic-gizmo recycling are out there, but they haven't really begun to get America's ear yet. We're listening. Their leadership will be vital when it comes to this stubbornly unvanishing species.
Oregonian Jan 4, 2005
free booters
FREE-BOOTERS FREE GEEK VOLUNTEERS RECYCLE USEABLE COMPUTERS TO THE WOULD-BE NERDY SET Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) January 4, 2005 Author: John Foyston - The Oregonian Estimated printed pages: 4
Next time your computer gets muley, try some gentle persuasion: Whisper that the folks at Free Geek know what to do with bad little computers.
It wouldn't last five minutes at the nonprofit computer recycling/rebuilding/reselling center in Southeast Portland. Quicker than it could say, "Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?" it'd be whisked through receiving, tagged and trundled to Evaluation, where it'd be stripped of its hard drive (they all go into a locked room to be tested and electronically wiped clean), tested and labeled with stickers such as No MOBO, Bad BATT or no DIMM. There's not a Pearly Gate in sight, but fates are decided nonetheless. The test room is a battered alcove abustle with five volunteers. There are flow charts on the wall, jars full of thousands of tiny nuts, bolts and lock washers from previous victims and a man-high Magic Marker line decreeing that thou shalt stack no higher.
If your balky box boots up and meets some basic hardware requirements, such as being at least the equivalent of a 300 megahertz Pentium II, a new life is possible -- otherwise it'll end up scattered among a row of big, heavy cardboard boxes, one each for circuit boards, power supplies, scrap metal, plastic, cables, wire cooling fans and more. Monitors that don't make the cut are sent to Seattle for safe recycling, and all Mac stuff goes to a specialist in Eugene.
"We figure that for every ton we recycle, we also divert another ton from the waste stream," said Oso Martin, Free Geek's founder. So far, Free Geek has recovered 400 tons of electronics scrap and diverted another 400. But that's just part of the story. The other part is embodied in the Free Geek motto: "Helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the third millennium."
Many of the donated machines are rebuilt into new systems for other nonprofit organizations and for people who, dude, may not ever be getting a Dell. Or not a new one, anyway.
More than 4,800 systems have been built so far, Martin says: Grant Boxes for as many 175 nonprofits, Freek Boxes that Free Geek volunteers can adopt by logging 24 hours of service at the receiving center, and Store Boxes that are sold at the Free Geek Thrift Store for a mere $40 along with 14-inch monitors for $5 or 17-inch for $25.
Volunteers make it all possible. About 3,800 are in the database and perhaps 250 of those are active at any one time. On the day we visited, about 30 people were working in Free Geek's leased building, which was once a bakery.
It's a warren of rooms with battered wooden floors: staff offices; the volunteer office; a classroom; the unfinished new server room; and the current one, populated by a motley crew of computer towers and racks of blinking modems; a lunchroom, where people heated plates of pasta; a tech-support cube, where a bearded man patiently said into a telephone, "Now, describe again exactly what it's doing"; the Build Room, where technicians hunched over bare motherboards and chassis; and the cavernous recycling room, where a crew of five applied electric screwdrivers, wire clippers and pliers to once-cosseted hardware, reducing it to component bits.
For all us "Star Wars" fans, Free Geek is immediately recognizable as the junkyard at Mos Eisely, the spaceport on Tatooine. With more Microsoft jokes, however, such as the Bill Gates dartboard and a shattered Windows 98 CD on the bulletin board. And a lot more penguins -- they being the mascot of Linux, the noncorporate operating system loaded into every Free Geek machine.
"Hey, Jon, a truck just pulled up and it's unloading," a volunteer shouted to operations co-coordinator Jon Tester. "Is that the one we're expecting?"
"No, that's an unannounced truck. Get everybody up here to help us unload."
"Welcome to my world," Tester said with a laugh, rising from his swivel chair and picking his way across the equipment-strewn office where Jake the dog tried to get someone to toss the tennis ball. Tester talked into a tiny headset phone and had a big bunch of keys clipped onto his belt along with a holstered MagLite and maybe another phone or a Palm Pilot and several pens clipped to the lanyard of his staff badge. He wore a Free Geek T-shirt.
"This is a wonderful place," he said, "I'm very loyal because they took a chance on me when nobody else would. I got in trouble with drugs a few years back, and when I got out I couldn't find a job for a year, not flipping burgers, pumping gas or anything. Then they asked me if I was interested in an internship here, and I jumped at the chance. "
"I really have fun here," said Trevor Griffin, who's learning to build computers at the center. "It's not just a place, it's a way of life -- it's like a big family."
Some of those family members are pretty darned young, such as Berkeley Fisher, who at 13 already has volunteered here for 18 months. He's soft-spoken and precise -- he's likely never dropped a "g" off the end of -ing in his young life.
"I wanted something to do with computers because I love working on them," he said -- he took apart his first computer when he was 5. As he talked, he inspected a circuit board for heat damage and then began to plug it into a complicated ganglia of test wires. "I heard about this at Earth Day, and it's been perfect. I'm learning how to test motherboards, which is something I wanted to do."
Bob Pierson came to computers a bit later in life; he started volunteering at Free Geek after a career in sales. "The big thing is keeping junk out of the landfills," he said. "And it's been a great way to stay involved after retirement. I come down here at least twice a week. I started in May and today I'll have 500 hours in."
Which means -- let's see -- that he's earned about 20 computers so far, right? "Actually, I haven't taken one," he said. "They're good computers, but they won't run my golf game." John Foyston: 503-221-8368; johnfoyston@news.oregonian.com 3 Photo - by Fredrick D. Joe/The Oregonian Sidebar - A primer: Free Geek Address: Edition: SUNRISE Section: LIVING Page: C01 Copyright (c) 2005 Oregonian Publishing Co. Record Number: 0501040130
Monday Profile, Oregonian Feb, 2004
THE MONDAY PROFILE GOODBYE, COMPUTER WASTE OSO MARTIN: FREE GEEK FOUNDER FINDS CALLING IN SAVING LANDFILLS Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) February 23, 2004 Author: MICHELLE COLE - The Oregonian, News researcher Lynne Palombo contributed to this report.
Oso Martin launched Free Geek on Earth Day 2000 with a stack of misspelled brochures and a Web site describing an organization that was more virtual than real.
No nonprofit had done exactly what Martin envisioned: Collect old computers, teach volunteers to fix them, give the good ones away to good causes and make sure the rest are responsibly recycled. Martin was willing to fail. He'd given up on the notion that success meant everything when he left California and the trappings of a corporate life.
There were times, especially in the first year, when Free Geek almost didn't get off the ground. Finding people willing to donate old computers wasn't the problem. Paying for a place to store and refurbish them was. At one point, Free Geek owed $12,000 in back rent. Still, the landlord and others were enchanted by the ponytailed Martin, who drives a beat-up truck fueled with 20 percent vegetable oil biodiesel and talks really fast when he's excited.
"He's obviously a committed individual," says Bruce Walker, solid waste and recycling program manager for the city of Portland. "He's out there working very hard, very long hours, and he's trying to make a difference."
Today, Free Geek not only is current on its rent, it has expanded its space twice. The organization occupies an old Langendorf Bakery building that stretches across a southeast Portland city block. Last year, when Oregon employers were either laying people off or locked in a hiring freeze, Free Geek boosted its staff from six to 13 plus added four paid internships.
Everyone is equal Even with its success, Free Geek continues to reflect Martin and now others' collective community values. Everything from furnishings to the toilet paper is donated. Everyone is equal. The core staff -- 13 people, including Martin -- earn the same pay.
"The receptionist makes the same amount of money as me, and I think that's appropriate. Her job is just as hard as mine. It's just different," says Martin, who earns about $17,000 a year.
In some ways, Free Geek is uniquely Oregon. But its power is moving beyond Oregon, as people in other states are beginning to recognize Martin as someone who has figured out at least some of the answers to the nation's most difficult electronic waste challenges.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are 315 million obsolete computers, monitors and other peripherals in the country, containing an estimated 1 billion pounds of lead, 2 billion pounds of cadmium and 400,000 pounds of mercury. Most everyone agrees that these toxic materials should not be disposed in the country's landfills, where they might leach into groundwater. There's also agreement that it's best not to ship these old machines to a developing country, where improper dismantling can threaten both workers and the environment.
There's widespread disagreement, however, about how obsolete computers should be handled and who should pay for it.
In June 2001, the EPA convened a panel of experts representing government, the electronics industry and environmental groups to develop a national strategy for dealing with computer waste. The panel, known as the National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative, held its final scheduled meeting earlier this month in Portland, ending three years of talks without developing a plan everyone could agree upon. Industry has committed to keep talking.
In the meantime, with no national solution to computer waste and old machines piling up, Oregon and other states likely will come up with their own recycling and disposal rules. Martin is a member of an Oregon state electronic waste advisory committee that has held its first meeting. He's not waiting for government or the electronics industry to dictate Free Geek's future, however.
Y2K name change Martin celebrated the new millennium by legally changing his first name to Oso -- the Spanish word for bear. He explains that it was Y2K, and he felt "some kind of dynamic shift" was in order.
His friends say Martin needed to make a final break from his past.
He was born 39 years ago as Peter Michael Martin, the son of an Air Force man. He won't talk about his family other than to say that they lived in California, England and Las Vegas while he was growing up.
Martin discovered an interest in industrial design and drafting in high school, and that led him to pursue a bachelor's degree in architectural science from Arizona State University.
After graduating from ASU, Martin said he'd planned to enroll in a master's program at the University of California in Los Angeles.
He moved back to California to reestablish residency and started work at a small design firm in Santa Monica. The job, he says, meant he didn't have to "write bad checks for food anymore." It also made going back to the life of a cash-strapped architectural student less attractive.
Instead, Martin focused on his career. He says his "great moment" in architecture was designing a small fire station in Mountain View, Calif. But most of his work involved design and construction of medical offices for Kaiser. He specialized in creating orthopedic and X-ray departments.
"My whole day was nothing but phone calls and using a three-hole punch to stick pieces of paper into binders," he said.
Taking up Portland's causes Martin quit and in 1996 moved to Portland, a city he'd visited for a total of 36 hours but already knew he liked.
At first, Martin looked for a job in architecture. The only thing he could find was designing medical office buildings for Kaiser. Been there. Done that. He finally settled on doing some consulting, and he whispers when he says, "I only had to work four or five hours a week."
He earned enough money to cover rent and buy food for himself and his dog, Jake, a black and white Border collie.
Martin decided to commit the balance of his time to the social and environmental causes he believed in. For a while, he and Jake spent 50-plus hours a week volunteering for City Repair Project, a group of activists dedicated to creating public gathering places. Martin helped organize the 1998 "Hands Around Portland" event -- which drew thousands of people for a symbolic protest against what activists then characterized as a "growing isolation brought on by freeways, gated communities and unregulated technology."
Martin also designed and maintained the City Repair Project's Web site. He'd been into computers since buying an Apple IIe in 1983. It was natural, then, that the junker computers people began donating to the City Repair Project were passed on to him. Martin took them home. He didn't know what else to do with them.
One day, Martin and a fellow activist, Matthew Follett, sat looking at the half-dozen or so computers piled high with books and papers in Martin's dining room.
"I really should get around to fixing the computers to give them away," Martin said.
Follett's response: "Why don't you just do it, then?"
Space to work and grow Today, Martin has 16,600 square feet of space in which to fix and store old computers and electronic equipment. And the machines keep coming.
Free Geek's warehouse is filled with central processing units and computer monitors stacked from the floor almost to the ceiling. There's a separate room for printers -- known affectionately by the Free Geekers as "printerland." There's also "stereoland," as well as a yet-to-be-named pile of laptops, phones and other gizmos taking up space Martin would like to see turned into a free Internet cafe. Someday, he'd also like to have a "museum of weird stuff."
Martin isn't stuck on any one interpretation of what Free Geek means.
"You're freeing your inner geek. You're becoming a geek for free. It's about freedom and doing that in a geeky way," he says with a smile.
As much as he hated spending his days as an architect on the phone and shuffling paperwork, Martin confesses that he now spends much of his time at Free Geek inside his tiny office working on a computerized spread sheet. An intern screens his phone calls, and a white board on the wall opposite his desk keeps track of his schedule. He says, reluctantly, that he's going to get a cell phone soon because he needs to stay in touch with the busy office.
A private donor gave Martin enough money to start Free Geek. But the organization won its big break when it received a $40,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Quality and the city of Portland in 2001. Other public and private grant money has trickled in.
Then, Free Geek received $159,000 in the summer from the Meyer Memorial Trust, a Portland-based foundation that supports a broad spectrum of nonprofit efforts in Oregon and Clark County, Wash. The money is to be used to expand Free Geek's staff and operations and to help other nonprofits learn to use Open Source Software, freely available applications that are easily customized.
Lately, Martin has been asked to help establish a Free Geek operation in Lancaster County, Pa. Another guy e-mailed from South Bend, Ind., asking whether he could use the Free Geek name for his computer recycling operation.
Sure, Martin said. No charge.
"Oso has this rare vision, and Free Geek is a magical organization," says Marie Deatherage, program and communications officer for the Meyer trust.
In fact, Deatherage says, if the state of Oregon is looking for people to feature in its "We love dreamers" campaign, state marketers ought to put Oso Martin in the ad.
"He's the guy they're talking about," she says.
News researcher Lynne Palombo contributed to this report. Michelle Cole: 503-294-5143; michellecole@news.oregonian.com 2 Photo by Patrick Sullivan - The Oregonian Sidebar - Free Geek Donations
sidebar:
FREE GEEK DONATIONS Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) February 23, 2004 Author: Michelle Cole - The Oregonian Estimated printed pages: 1
FREE GEEK DONATIONS Free Geek accepts computers, stereos, VCRs and other electronics in any condition. There's a $10 charge per monitor, working or not, to cover the cost of recycling. Free Geek does not accept televisions, copiers, microwaves or household appliances.
Donations may be made during regular business hours, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 1731 S.E. 10th Ave.
For information about volunteering, donating or the Free Geek Thrift Store, call 503-232-9350 or visit www.freegeek.org -- Michelle Cole Memo: Oso Martin
photo: THE MONDAY PROFILE - OSO MARTIN Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) February 23, 2004 Author: PATRICK SULLIVAN/The Oregonian Estimated printed pages: 1 BW photo < Oso Martin, Free Geek founder, says the organization so far has kept approximately 600 tons of computer and other electronic waste out of landfills. < Status: Merlin Archive
photo: THE MONDAY PROFILE: OSO MARTIN Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) February 23, 2004 Author: PATRICK SULLIVAN/The Oregonian Estimated printed pages: 1 Color photo < Oso Martin started Free Geek four years ago when he fixed a few old computers and gave them away. Today, Free Geek is one of Oregon's largest computer rebuilding, redistributing and recycling operations. Free Geek's motto: "Helping the needy get nerdy." < Status: Merlin Archive
december 2002 ewaste
E-WASTE' MOUNTS WITH TECH CASTOFFS Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) December 16, 2002 Author: MICHELLE COLE - The Oregonian Estimated printed pages: 5
Summary: Oregon trails other states in recycling computer gear, which includes toxics that could leach from landfills In more than two dozen Massachusetts cities and towns, getting rid of an old computer monitor or television is as easy as calling the local garbage hauler for curbside pickup and recycling.
Not so in Portland. Here, in the city ranked sixth nationally for its number of homes with computers, people cram old monitors and CPUs into their closets, not knowing how to dispose of them. Or they send them away with the trash -- and ultimately, to the landfill, where their toxic contents can leach into soil and water. In a minority of cases, Portlanders will pay a nonprofit organization to take spent computers off their hands to do the right recycling thing.
Oregon has been a national leader in recycling since it passed the first bottle bill in 1971. But when it comes to the environmentally problematic disposal of computers, televisions, printers and other electronics that contain toxic substances and heavy metals, it has taken a wait-and-see approach. Other states have moved out front.
Massachusetts, California and local governments in Washington state have banned computer monitors and televisions from landfills. The problem is plain: Each unit contains 4 to 8 pounds of lead, exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard for hazardous waste. Lead, a threat to humans and animals under certain conditions, can leach out of a landfill's contents and menace a water supply.
Lead and dozens of other toxic substances give discards from the electronic world the name "e-waste." And e-waste has only recently started getting serious study.
"The evidence shows that lead is certainly contained in high concentrations in these devices, and that should give us some pause to consider how we manage them," said Timothy Townsend, a University of Florida engineering professor who studies e-waste and has tracked how computer monitors and televisions act in landfills.
Although no documented pollution problems at U.S. landfills point directly to electronic waste, Clare Lindsay of the EPA's solid waste office says: "We don't really need to have such information to determine whether we should keep end-of-life electronics out of landfills. What we do know is that, over time, there will be some leaching of toxics from end-of-life electronics in a landfill environment."
Obsolete electronics account for less than 7 percent of what Americans send to landfills. And in Oregon in 2000, records show, electronics accounted for 2 percent.
But federal, state and local officials worry about a ballooning effect, that all the closet components-in-waiting will create a deluge of e-waste during the next five years. A deluge in waiting From 2000 to 2007, the EPA estimates, as many as 500 million personal computers in the United States will become obsolete. Metro estimates that Portland-area households are storing more than 300,000 used computer monitors and more than 500,000 used television sets.
That's a lurking problem.
This old equipment contains as much as 3,200 tons of lead and other toxics.
If the equipment were taken away for recycling, the dozen or so local nonprofits and businesses that handle electronic goods would be overwhelmed, a Metro study says.
"I worry that someday we'll go down to the Columbia Slough and, instead of old washing machines, you'll see these things sticking up out of the water," said Mike Burton, Metro's outgoing executive officer.
Citing the bulk and lead content of computer monitors, Massachusetts became, two years ago, the first state to ban monitors and television sets from landfills or incineration.
To ensure that residents had options other than illegal dumping, the state spent $3 million building a network of electronics recyclers and a system that allows for curbside collection in some areas and collection centers in others. In some cases, residents pay fees outright; in others, the cost is built into the hauler's standard fees.
Snohomish County, near Seattle, also no longer accepts monitors and televisions as garbage. In turn, county officials have established a public-private Take It Back network offering e-waste collection centers for residents and businesses. People who drop off obsolete electronics are asked to pay a $10 to $20 fee.
"In the next couple of years, if Snohomish County were footing the bill ourselves, it would be $500,000 a year," said Sego Jackson, a planner in the county's solid waste office. Oregon proposals Oregon Rep. Jackie Dingfelder, D-Portland, said she considered bringing a bill to ban e-waste from the state's landfills before the 2003 Legislature. But she has been discouraged by state and local officials who want to have a more robust network of electronics recyclers in place before a landfill ban is passed.
Instead, Dingfelder said, she is likely to push legislation next year that would guide state purchasing and disposal practices as well as encourage electronics manufacturers to share the responsibility for computer recycling and disposal.
Newly elected Rep. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, said he is having legislation drafted to prohibit computer monitors and televisions from going to Oregon landfills. Prozanski said he isn't sure that he'll introduce the bill but said it might be the best way to "energize the discussion."
Other nations are pushing hard to deal with e-waste.
Japan requires manufacturers to take back old equipment and has asked consumers to pay a fee to cover recycling and safe disposal of computer equipment for the past couple of years. The nation is moving toward a system in which consumers pay a recycling fee at the time of purchase. Manufacturers still will be required to take back what they made.
The European Union is following the lead of Belgium and the Netherlands, where consumers pay an upfront disposal fee for electronics and other products. Manufacturers in those two countries are required to take responsibility for recycling or disposal. They can either meet that responsibility themselves or join a nonprofit industry association that does the job. Federal discussions Environmental groups and some government solid waste managers have suggested that the United States adopt a similar national policy. But that has been rejected, especially by the electronics industry. With the EPA's financial backing, the U.S.-based National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative has convened government officials, high-tech manufacturers and retailers, and conservationists to talk about how best to handle U.S. e-waste.
The focus has been on computer monitors and televisions, with the understanding that policies might also be applied to cellular phones, VCRs and other electronics. Discussions began in January 2001 and have dragged on, at times contentiously.
Still, Wayne Rifer, a Portland-based environmental consultant and a participant in the talks, said the group appears to be moving toward a national agreement that could include a disposal fee, paid when a computer is purchased.
In Oregon, state and local officials say they've hesitated to launch their own Take It Back network or other e-waste programs until the national talks wrap up.
There's a possibility that Portland residents could someday put their e-waste out with their recycling bins, said Bruce Walker, the city's Solid Waste and Recycling Division manager.
But for now, Portland, Metro and state officials say they'd prefer to bolster the nonprofits and businesses that do computer recycling.
Their philosophy is that the e-waste problem is not the government's to solve.
"We're willing to work with them," said Lee Barrett, Metro manager of waste reduction and outreach. "We don't think it's our role to set up a place so Dell and Gateway and the rest of the computer manufacturers can dump their products." Michelle Cole: 503-294-5143; michellecole@news.oregonian.com Color Graphic - Illustrations and text by Derrik Quenzer - The Oregonian The hazardous world within Edition: SUNRISE Section: LOCAL STORIES Page: A01 Index Terms: Local; POLLUTION Copyright (c) 2002 Oregonian Publishing Co. Record Number: 0212160041