Hardware Donations

This page is out-of-date and needs to be updated.--Elizabethwt 01:10, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

When someone wants to donate a computer or related item to Free Geek, they do so in the receiving, or hardware donations. This area is run by volunteers and overseen by staff. There is a Receiving calendar now available for pre-notification of hardware donations staff and volunteers.

What you can learn here

• Hardware identification
• Mouse, speaker, and keyboard testing

Assisting The Donor

1. Ask if they're here to make a donation. Direct them to the store or front desk if they are not.
2. Help them unload.
3. As they unload, fill out a tally sheet, indicating quantity of each type of item they are donating.
4. Give them the tally sheet and direct them to the donation desk.
5. Finally, thank them for donating! They are the first step to keeping e-waste out of landfills.

Talking To Donors About The Fate Of Their Stuff

These guidelines are from the NPA meeting on 5/27/2010.

1. General policy: don't tell donors that their stuff is going to be recycled unless they specifically ask. When donors learn that their stuff is going to be recycled, it can cause problems as donors are attached to their stuff.
2. If the donor asks, stay factual. "We try to use everything we can use, but if we can't we recycle it in an environmentally responsible way. 25% of computers donated get reused and this is a very high reuse rate for operations such as ours."
3. Direct them to Goodwill for things that are not part of of our mission and which the donor really wants to be reused: e.g TVs, vacuums, boxes of books

Items we do not accept

There are certain items that people might try to donate that we do not accept. You can suggest that people contact Metro Recycling Information Center at (503) 234-3000 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday for instructions on how to properly dispose of these items.

Photocopiers	Major Appliances
Microwaves	Smoke Detectors
Styrofoam	Alkaline Batteries

Items that we do accept

• Most items can be put away in boxes in receiving. Some need to be moved elsewhere in the building. See map for details.
• If there are a lot of donations coming in, concentrate on big items like monitors, systems, and printers first.
• Filling out a tally sheet is important for Free Geek's database - that's how we log how many items we have collected from the community!
• There are thousands of devices that can be incorporated into a computer that are not listed here. We take all of them. Additionally, there are many types of non-computer equipment that we do take. If you don't know what they do, ask a staff member.
• If you are unsure of any item, talk to a staff member!

Item	Where It Goes
Systems	Evaluation 1
CRT Monitors	Keepers go in monitor testing in the warehouse if the date on the back of the monitor says it's newer than the year 2000. Recyclers are monitors that are older than 1999, and they get recycled into the gaylord that says "Covered CRT-Monitors." If the monitor has a sticker that says "Uncovered Electronic Device," please put it into the "Uncovered CED Monitors" gaylord. For monitors that are Recyclers, put a tally mark on the clipboard in the warehouse under the appropriate heading.
LCD Monitors and TVs	ALL LCD monitors and TVs go on the floor of the Build Room.
Televisions	If the TV looks nice and it can easily be carried by one person, put it in Basic Testing. Otherwise, it can be recycled in the warehouse.
Printers	Send to printer-island in the warehouse.
Scanners	Send to printer-island in the warehouse.
Speakers	If there is a left speaker, a right speaker, AND it's independently powered by an external source (wall wart), put them in a paper bag in the Basic Testing Area where it says Speaker Incoming. Subwoofer systems go directly below Speaker Incoming.
Keyboards	Put in Basic Testing, but recycle if they are serial, DIN/AT, or dirty/yellowed. Older Mac keyboards (without an eject button on the top right corner of the number pad) can also be auto-recycled.
Mice	Put in Basic Testing if they are clean and have a scroll button. Keep newer Mac mice and trackball mice. Older Mac mice (circular, rather than oval-shaped) can also be recycled, and mice without scroll buttons can be auto-recycled as well.
Laptops	Give to a staff member.
Apple Hardware	Bring to Mac Incoming.
Cards and Motherboards	Card and motherboard box
Floppy Drives	Recycle in the box marked Copper Bearing Material.
CD-ROM Drives	Recycle in the box marked Copper Bearing Material.
CD-RW and DVD Drives	Advanced Testing Box
Floppy Disks	Recycle in the box labeled Floppy Disks.
CD-ROMs	Destroy and put in CD box, unless it's a game or it's a factory pressed linux disc, in which case send to Build
DVD Players	Take directly to AV cart in hall.
Stereo Systems	A/V Box, except in cases of large hardware, in which case take directly to AV cart in hall.
Telephones	Recycle in the box labeled Copper Bearing Materials
Cell Phones	Put in lockbox.
Wall-warts	Rubber-band and put in box labeled Wall-Warts for further sorting (by Advanced Testing).
Cords	See Cable Sorting All else ask a staff member.

What to do when times are slow

• Clean up. Often there are abandoned cardboard boxes to break down and put away, sweeping up to be done, etc.
• Move receiving boxes to their designated areas - e.g. advanced testing box to advanced testing, steel box to recycling.

What about the big donations?

See Handling Corporate Donations at Receiving

Where do the boxes go when they're full?

See Where Full Boxes Go