Where Old Computers Go To Die

Computers are great - I have two that currently function. My main rig, about a year and a half old and sporting a number of pieces of added hardware, and my old rig, a Gateway Pentium II 233, purchased in 1997. It is about to assume new duties as my wife's graduate studies computer. I'm happy to be able to get more life out of it, and honestly a little surprised it still turns on.

Lurking in the corners of my office are less fortunate machines, computers given to me when they no longer functioned as their masters demanded of them. These I took in with a clear eye to salvaging what I could and making at least one working box out of the mess. After much puzzling over the cause of their distress, I concluded they were not worth the cost to buy the parts to repair. So, now what?

Computers are disgusting when it comes to the materials that make up their electronic and mechanical parts. In that box on your desk, behind the glowing screen of your monitor, lurks a hazardous waste problem most of us never even think about.

Well, I have to now. Out in my den is a box that has the skeletal remains of two computers, packed up tight and ready to go. Dell offers a program that costs a small fee ($5.00 - $15.00) for pick up and recycling of properly packaged computers. HP and IBM also do this sort of thing, and there are organizations springing up to try and deal with the growing stream of not only unwanted computers, but old electronics generally, as Americans rush to purchase the latest and greatest computer, stereo, TV, cell phone, PDA, etc.

Now all I have to do is pry that nominal fee from my tightly clenched fist and get the process started. :)