[Sqg-program] the reuse of E-waste

[Perrigan, Glen]

A note from my Department manager (and NAHMMA member) Allen Frechette:

 

Scott County, MN has for the last year been offering its functioning
decommissioned (hard drive wiped) computers to County residents free of
charge in our Household Hazardous Waste facility's material exchange room.
Through contact with a county resident who is an Army Sergeant in charge of
providing support for families of deployed Minnesota National Guard soldiers
we learned that several families had contacted his support office to get help
with their computers that had crashed.  Their primary means of communication
with their deployed family member is through email, some have live video
abilities as well.  We provided several PCs taken out of service from County
offices that had been wiped of information and volunteers installed Ubuntu
Linux a free operating system and software suite to get them up and running
again.  News of free computers quickly spread at the National Guard family
Christmas party and the demand for PCs quickly grew beyond our supply.  We
turned to our pc recycling company, Asset Recovery Corporation and they have
now stepped forward to provide more working used PCs.

 

As a Vietnam veteran who personally experienced separation anxiety from my
wife after a month of marriage when our only means of communication (postal
mail) was disrupted for several months I appreciate the need for soldiers to
stay connected with their loved ones back home.  So, I am passing on this
service idea as a challenge to other HHW facility managers who accept e-waste
like computers and who offer working items to the public through your
materials exchange shelves to consider contacting your local Guard or Reserve
office and offering your used PCs rather than sending them off to be
destroyed.  If anyone wants more information on our program please contact
Greg Boe (gboe at co.scott.mn.us) or me.  A good place to start to identify
military organizations that might be able to coordinate a similar local
program is:  http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/07GUARDSURVEY.PDF

 

Allen Frechette, Environmental Health Manager, Scott County, MN;
afrechette at co.scott.mn.us



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