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Program aims to dispose of e-waste
Published January 4, 2009
ALVIN — After many furiously unwrapped all kinds of e-goodies for Christmas this year, a city program is encouraging residents to dispose of the old electronics safely.
Alvin’s recycling program is sponsoring its third annual “E-waste Event” on Saturday at the Public Service Building, where residents can bring old televisions, computers, monitors and any other electronic system to dispose of it properly, said Joan Pagan, Alvin’s recycling coordinator.
Last year, the program collected two flatbed trucks full of old electronics that were given to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s computer recovery facility, she said.
With the nation switching television signals from analog to digital in February, Pagan said the city might need more than two trucks to carry everything away this year.
“I had calls all year about it,” she said. “I anticipated, with the change of the television systems, we’ll have more.”
Electronics cannot be thrown away with everyday trash because the devices contain many toxic chemicals, Pagan said.
“Those TVs don’t need to be sent to the landfill,” she said.
Using the e-waste recycling event to dispose of old computers ensures they won’t affect the environment — plus it benefits a good cause, Pagan said.
The criminal justice department’s Manufacturing and Logistics Computer Recovery Program, launched in 1998, allows inmates to refurbish old computers to be reused, spokesman Jason Clark said.
“They take surplus and salvage equipment and give it to state agencies,” he said.
Aside from saving taxpayer dollars from being spent on computer equipment, the program gives inmates a chance to obtain valuable technological skills, he said.
Some of those computers also are used in educational settings, Pagan said.
Before computers are given to the state to be refurbished, a contractor goes through them and makes sure the hard drives are cleaned of all personal information, she said.
The program will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the public service building, 1100 W. Highway 6 in Alvin.
Residents only have to drive to the facility and the equipment will be removed from their vehicles, Pagan said.
“They won’t have to get out of the car,” she said.
For information, call (281) 388-4393.
John Tompkins is senior reporter for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 237-0149.
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