How the Oregon E-Cycles Program will be changing how Free Geek processes gizmos and people

Terms to Know

Covered Electronic Device (CED)

Television (includes LCD's)

Monitor (includes LCD's)

System

Laptop

(any gizmo with a screen measuring 4" or more digaonally)

Covered Entity (CE)

A household

small business with 10 or fewer employees

small 501(c)(3) nonprofit with 10 or fewer employees

Anyone with 7 or fewer CED's

SCP

State Contractor Program, aka National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER). Manufacturers pay NCER and then the NCER reimburses Free Geek

What to do if...

check out this page for some examples of the interplay between CE's and CED's

How to process CED's

Since most of our donors are Covered Entities, there will be significantly fewer CED's for which we will not be compensated than those which we will be. So the Receiving Committee decided to tag the CED's that we receive from non-covered entities with a little sticker. This way we can make sure that we're not being compensated illegally (and therefore, we are preserving the integrity of the program).

What does this mean? Here's a clarifying example.

Puppy Rescue, Inc. brings a truckload of gizmos to Free Geek including 25 CRT Monitors, 25 Systems, and 25 Laptops. Since Puppy Rescue, Inc. employs more than 10 workers, they are not a Covered Entity. Therefore, we accept 7 CED's free of charge. So 7 CRT's are counted as CED's (and left untagged) but the remaining 18 CRT Monitors, 25 Systems and 25 Laptops are tagged with a little sticker.

How to verify CE status

So, the only time we need to delve a little deeper into the donor's identity is when he/she drops off more than 7 CED's. For anyone with 8 or more, ask them to verbally verify that they a covered entity and were the last user of all the devices they are dropping off.

INSERT EXAMPLES (use recent info@ email)

If you are suspicious that someone is a non-covered entity with more than 7 at any time, you can feel free to blame our strict policies and make them call Carson for verification of their status. As an occasional “covered entity” may show up with more than 7 CEDs, NCER asks that you call us only if you have serious questions about the source. We feel that you are capable of handling this on your own, as you are one of our largest collectors, and capable of dealing with out-of-system units properly. Over time we may alter this procedure as the program matures but for now we ask you to call us when or if this happens.

Perhaps to deter non-covered entities from cheating on this verbal verification, keep a written log of the name of the individual/small business/non-profit and how many CEDs they are dropping off. We're open to suggestions on this idea, however.

Carson W. Maxted: 503-501-8471

Why does this matter?

There are two reasons why it's important to distinguish between a Covered and Non-Covered Entity.

On the one hand, there's the whole money thing. If the donor is not a Covered Entity then the donor must pay for any CRT's over the 7 limit. For example, when Puppy Rescue, Inc. brings in 10 CRT Monitors we'll accept 7 for free and then charge them for the remaining 3. BUT, if Joe brings in 10 CRT Monitors (and verifies that he was the end user of the CRT's) then we'd accept them all for free.

On the other hand, it's important for us to track CED's as they travel through the building. So all CED's not from CE's must be tagged and we cannot be reimbursed for them.

We want to verify that donors are CE's as much as possible because it's easier for us.

What's going to happen in Prebuild?

Systems come in. Systems are evaluated. Red, Green, Yellow pile

What's going to happen with Laptops?

Laptops (from Covered Entities) with no reuse value will have their hard drives removed and then will be placed in a gaylord to be shipped out to Total Reclaim. Laptops (not from Covered Entities – they have a sticker) with no reuse value will be processed as usual, but placed in a different gaylord

Other changes

Processing donors at the Front Desk

relationships with other collection sites, e.g. ici computers

Tally form in Receiving
Warehouse changes
Monitor Fees - will they change in the future?

Ewaste Training

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