Post by title1parent on Jun 13, 2008 7:33:57 GMT -5
Monitors found in school trash
Laws regulate dumping electronics
June 13, 2008
By Paige Winfield pwinfield@scn1.com
School District 203 officials found dozens of illegally discarded computer monitors on their hands this week.
After a caller contacted The Sun, about 30 monitors filling a trash bin behind Ranch View Elementary School were discovered on Thursday. Saying they were not put there by school staff, Chief Information Officer Craig Williams guesses someone has been doing some "Dumpster-diving."
WAYS TO RECYCLE
Unlike businesses, households are not legally required to recycle electronic equipment such as computers, televisions, audio equipment and cellular and cordless telephones.
But the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency encourages owners to consider recycling such items because they are routinely constructed using hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls. Some recommendations include:
• Giving it to grandparents for e-mail contact with the grandchildren.
• Donating it to a local charity that will reuse it for seniors or underprivileged children.
• Starting a home network or using the old PC as a print server or Web server.
Additionally, some computer manufacturers have recycling centers for old PCs or already have agreements with charities that will accept them. Some charge a nominal fee and some will accept old PCs only if a new one is purchased. Programs include:
• Com2 Computer Recycling
• Dell Global Recycling
• Electronics Recycling
• Hewlett-Packard Recycling Program
• Lenovo Product Recycling Program
• Lexmark's Recycling Program
• Micron PC Recycling Program
• Small Business and Consumer Computer Retirement Center
Source: Illinois EPA
"What I think we've got going on is we have a scavenger going around looking for parts, taking what they need and then dumping the rest into a school Dumpster," Williams said.
On Monday, Steve Mathes, manager of district operations, discovered some people at the district office in Aurora looking through a special E-Dumpster that is used for electronic items, Williams said. After the scavengers quickly left in a pick-up truck, Mathes didn't call the police but did lock the Dumpster and posted a "no trespassing" sign.
To comply with federal law, all schools in the district discard their electronic equipment in the E-Dumpster in Aurora, Walters said.
"Any electronic disposal is centralized so it goes from the schools to the district office," he said.
The monitors were products of several different makers. Some Hewlett Packard and MPC models were similar to machines used in the school, while others made by NEC and Gateway are not owned by the district.
Williams said it is possible someone could have stolen school computers from the E-Dumpster and transferred them to the Dumpster behind Ranch View Elementary. But since the school does not tag its computers, he was not able to determine whether any were previously owned by the district.
Because Ranch View Elementary has not retired any monitors recently, it is unlikely that they were used at that school, Williams said.
The law would have been violated if school staff had dumped the monitors into the garbage Dumpster. While there are no regulations on how household electronics should be discarded, business and other agencies are banned from sending their electronic equipment to landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Devices such as computers and televisions, which contain lead and heavy metals, are considered hazardous waste materials and cannot be sent to landfills, said David Walters, manager of the waste reduction and compliance section of the Illinois EPA.
"I think we're all familiar with lead poisoning issues and other heavy metal that could have serious effects on health," he said. "They should be disposed of in a manner where lead and other heavy metals can be recaptured and not released into the environment."
Households are exempt from the regulation because they generate smaller volumes of electronics, Walters said.
Laws regulate dumping electronics
June 13, 2008
By Paige Winfield pwinfield@scn1.com
School District 203 officials found dozens of illegally discarded computer monitors on their hands this week.
After a caller contacted The Sun, about 30 monitors filling a trash bin behind Ranch View Elementary School were discovered on Thursday. Saying they were not put there by school staff, Chief Information Officer Craig Williams guesses someone has been doing some "Dumpster-diving."
WAYS TO RECYCLE
Unlike businesses, households are not legally required to recycle electronic equipment such as computers, televisions, audio equipment and cellular and cordless telephones.
But the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency encourages owners to consider recycling such items because they are routinely constructed using hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls. Some recommendations include:
• Giving it to grandparents for e-mail contact with the grandchildren.
• Donating it to a local charity that will reuse it for seniors or underprivileged children.
• Starting a home network or using the old PC as a print server or Web server.
Additionally, some computer manufacturers have recycling centers for old PCs or already have agreements with charities that will accept them. Some charge a nominal fee and some will accept old PCs only if a new one is purchased. Programs include:
• Com2 Computer Recycling
• Dell Global Recycling
• Electronics Recycling
• Hewlett-Packard Recycling Program
• Lenovo Product Recycling Program
• Lexmark's Recycling Program
• Micron PC Recycling Program
• Small Business and Consumer Computer Retirement Center
Source: Illinois EPA
"What I think we've got going on is we have a scavenger going around looking for parts, taking what they need and then dumping the rest into a school Dumpster," Williams said.
On Monday, Steve Mathes, manager of district operations, discovered some people at the district office in Aurora looking through a special E-Dumpster that is used for electronic items, Williams said. After the scavengers quickly left in a pick-up truck, Mathes didn't call the police but did lock the Dumpster and posted a "no trespassing" sign.
To comply with federal law, all schools in the district discard their electronic equipment in the E-Dumpster in Aurora, Walters said.
"Any electronic disposal is centralized so it goes from the schools to the district office," he said.
The monitors were products of several different makers. Some Hewlett Packard and MPC models were similar to machines used in the school, while others made by NEC and Gateway are not owned by the district.
Williams said it is possible someone could have stolen school computers from the E-Dumpster and transferred them to the Dumpster behind Ranch View Elementary. But since the school does not tag its computers, he was not able to determine whether any were previously owned by the district.
Because Ranch View Elementary has not retired any monitors recently, it is unlikely that they were used at that school, Williams said.
The law would have been violated if school staff had dumped the monitors into the garbage Dumpster. While there are no regulations on how household electronics should be discarded, business and other agencies are banned from sending their electronic equipment to landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Devices such as computers and televisions, which contain lead and heavy metals, are considered hazardous waste materials and cannot be sent to landfills, said David Walters, manager of the waste reduction and compliance section of the Illinois EPA.
"I think we're all familiar with lead poisoning issues and other heavy metal that could have serious effects on health," he said. "They should be disposed of in a manner where lead and other heavy metals can be recaptured and not released into the environment."
Households are exempt from the regulation because they generate smaller volumes of electronics, Walters said.
