EWaste Plan

This is a draft of a new or in-progress document, and is likely to have a few people specifically working on it. You may wish to check in on the discussion page to see what the purpose of the document is and who's working on it; then feel free to give this article love and attention if have extra of those things.

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Intro

The biggest question about the E-Waste Legislation, aka HB2626, & its impact on Free Geek is based on the vagueness of Free Geek's status within the text of the bill. Where will we fit into a statewide e-waste recycling system and how will that affect our stream of incoming gizmos?

State of the Legislation

HB2626 passed unanimously through the House and Senate and was ceremoniously signed by Governor Ted Kulongowski in 2007. The bill will now be sent to a rule-making committee for implementation fine-tuning. This committee should be forming in Fall 2007. This committee is headed up by Jan Whitworth of the Oregon DEQ and staff member Ali will likely be a member, representing Free Geek's interests (i.e. prioritizing reuse over recycling and requiring transparency in e-waste end-of-life).

Issues for the Future

• Will we be able/need to charge for monitors?
• FG could/should open up more locations in the PDX area (and beyond), even if they're just drop-off points
• FG should be having conversations with Next Step Recycling
• FG should outreach to solicit donations to further the community's recognition of FG (esp. to businesses who might have really nice stuff for us)

SWOT

Take full advantage of E-Waste legislation to increase incoming stream.

	Good (for Free Geek)	Bad (for Free Geek)
Internal (to Free Geek)	Strengths: Strengths are advantages we have that are internal to Free Geek and helpful to achieving the objective. (Good things we do.) FG has been in the e-waste reuse/recycling business for 7 years. FG is already well-known and respected in the metropolitan Portland area for environmentally responsible e-waste practices. FG is a 501(c)3 and provide tax receipts to donors.	Weaknesses: Weaknesses are problems we have that are internal to Free Geek and harmful to achieving the objective. (Things we do poorly or not at all.) FG is not the greatest at promoting itself. FG cannot compete financially with for-profit recycling businesses (or maybe it can).
External (to Free Geek)	Opportunities: Opportunities are advantages we have that are external to Free Geek and helpful to achieving the objective. (Good things that will or could happen to us.) FG could open up a bunch of other locations, even if they're only drop-offs, leading to more stuff. FG institutes a pickup service, leading to more stuff - especially good stuff Attend meetings to ensure that reuse is emphasized in the rule-making session & manufacturers direct more people to us, leading to more stuff	Threats: Threats are problems we have that are external to Free Geek and harmful to achieving the objective. (Bad things that will or could happen to us.) FG is not an authorized collection/drop-off site & we can no longer accept e-waste specified in HB2626 this is an issue in Canada because a collection site must be certified FG may have to accept televisions, as they are specified in HB2626 Other, for-profit recycling businesses offer a more convenient collection site/pick-up service & our incoming stream decreases FG's survival is contingent on pickup services & we cannot afford it.

See also Trends and Attributes | What do we want to do?

Related Documents

• 3 - 5 year plan and Vision Statement
• Long Term Strategy Process
• Meta Question
• Hiring Strategy
• General Priorities
• Space Usage