IT’S TIME: CLEAN OUR YOUR BONEYARD

by Chadd VanZanten (Iodynamics)

Fall 2004

The bone yard. The junk pile. No matter what it's called, every business has one. It's a closet or maybe an unused office, and it's filled with the beige carcasses of deceased Pentiums, 14-inch monitors, and used up printers.

You might not often think about your boneyard, but you know it's there, taking up space and growing as obsolescence overtakes the network. What can you do? Well, if your boneyard is big enough, you could just let the junk stack up until you run out of space. Read on if you're interested in cleaning house.

If you have functional computers with monitor, keyboard, and mouse, donate them to a non-profit organization. You get a receipt for the fair value of the donation and the computer will be put to good use. The non-profit gets a computer and you get a tax deduction. It's courteous to wipe the system clean and include an operating system and system drivers. If don't know who to donate to, contact Iodynamics for a few ideas.

If you have very old (pre-Windows 3.x) or very exotic equipment, check out eBay (www.ebay.com). Such artifacts are often in demand by collectors and enthusiasts. The same goes for very old manuals and software. See if some Radio Shack wonk wants your wide-format dot-matrix printer: go to eBay and search for the model number, name, or make to see if any of it shows up in current auctions. To gage the value of the junk, er, collectables, do an Advanced Search on Completed Auctions.

If your cast-off equipment is beyond re-use, dump it. Only don't put it in the Dumpster with the rest of the trash. Computers contain lead, mercury, and other elements not welcome in most landfills. One CRT monitor contains up to 4 pounds of lead, enough to be considered hazardous waste. Go to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality website (http://www.deq.utah.gov/what_you_can_do/recycling/electronic.htm) for information on how to e-cycle your electronic waste. If you live in Cache County, you're in luck. The Logan Landfill (435.750.9981) is the only county land- fill listed by the UDEQ that will accept electronic waste.

If it seems like e-cycling your electronic waste will take too much time and effort, think about the following facts:

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 250 million computers will be- come obsolete in the next 5 years.
• In 2001, only 11 percent of discarded comput- ers were recycled or properly disposed of. Annually, 2,054,800 tons of electronic waste are placed in U.S. landfills.
• Improperly disposing of electronic waste is not only inconsiderate, but it can only hurt you and your business, since it will pollute your community. With just a little forethought and plan ning, you can empty that boneyard and prevent your electronic waste from piling up again.

Now, what to do with all that space? Listen to your employees. They're asking for a foosball table.

Sources: U.S. EPA website, Utah Department of Environmental Quality Website, Environmental Connection Magazine Summer 2004.