From TNPC issue #4.22...

Recycling PC Components and Paraphernalia: Part 3 (Donation Options for Whole, Functional PCs)

by Lee Hudspeth
November 1, 2001

If you don't want to keep a recyclable PC, and you would prefer to donate it rather than sell it, you can make the donation to a family member, friend, colleague, next-door neighbor, or a charitable organization (select from these different donee types in whatever order of preference works for you).

For some insight into the recycle/donation market, here is a summary of comments from Ken Goldstein, Ph.D., Founder and State Coordinator, Hawaii Computers for Kids Program ("CFK").
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/422/tr.cgi?lee1

Ken started CFK in 1992 as a grass roots organization, and he now uses the services of thousands of local volunteers. In 1996 CFK became a "signature project" of the Rotary Club of Metropolitan Honolulu; through the Rotary network, Ken can reach 1.2 million Rotary members around the world.

When an end-user donates a computer, he or she gets a formal donation receipt that is qualified for federal and state tax write-offs. For PCs less than two years old--if the donor is a corporation--a federal law allows the entire original cost of the machine as a write-off (the corporation gets the free use of that machine for two years, and still gets a full tax write-off).

The donation process works like this: donated PCs are rounded up by Helping Hands Hawaii (HHH), and are then distributed to one or more of 16 local high schools. Students at these schools have been trained to diagnose, repair/upgrade, and load new operating systems on these donated machines. Then CFK locates schools that need these ready-to-use computers. This has proven to be Ken's most daunting task, as the Hawaii Dept. of Education does not currently have a system for easily finding needy end-users. Nonetheless, CFK has managed to move more than 10,000 computers from donors to schools to date.

The entire transcript of his comments are on my supplemental page.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/422/tr.cgi?lee2

"Share the Technology," a nonprofit corporation, offers caveats for folks preparing to donate a PC. This is a MUST READ if you're considering donating a PC.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/422/tr.cgi?lee3

TechSoup.org maintains a "Recycled and Refurbished Hardware" page that lists online (and traditional) national and local hardware manufacturers and resellers that provide used hardware to non- profit organizations.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/422/tr.cgi?lee4

AnotheR BytE, Inc. (nonprofit) maintains a Non-Profit Computer Recycling Useful Links page. It's extensive and you'll find it to be very helpful; check it out:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/422/tr.cgi?lee5

My next article in this series will cover scrapping PCs.

Note: for those of you interested in recycling your PC media as I reported in Part 1 of this series, I recently received GreenDisk's Certificate of Destruction for the CDs, floppies, and tapes I shipped them on October 3rd (they certified the destruction on October 10th). David Beschen, President, GreenDisk Services, wrote me to explain that "unless it is a corporate contracted client we generally process these [end-user media recycling] packages as fill work." Sounds good to me. I once again strongly recommend that you consider GreenDisk's end-user media recycling process for any old media you have on hand.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/422/tr.cgi?lee6

You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
mailto:LeeHudspeth@TheNakedPC.com

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