INMATE-STAFFED SERVICE PROVIDES A GREEN ALTERNATIVE TO LANDFILL DOOM

Eric Olmstead heads to jail about once a month on a do-gooder mission. He’s not volunteering with the inmates or doing time. Olmstead, the founder of Vancouver-based On Line Support, is dropping off a car load of computers for recycling.

“Computers get replaced every three to five years in this country,” Olmstead said. “That’s just too much trash. We shouldn’t dump it in a landfill.”

In much of the U.S., dealing with old electronics is a confusing and expensive process. But for Clark County residents and businesses, there’s an inexpensive one-stop recycling center to turn to, as Olmstead and hundreds of others have discovered. And for people worried about computer data security issues, there are steps they can take to protect themselves. Through a program that teaches inmates on-the-job skills, the Clark County Jail Work Center keeps outdated electronics out of the waste stream, and in the recycling stream.

Regulation threat

Changes to state law that take effect in 2009 may have the unintended consequence of shutting down the county’s computer recycling program, but until state officials sort things out the jail work center plans to continue its work, said Dan Plotner, custody sergeant with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and former head of the recycling program. On Line Support will also continue to bring its computers - and those of its customers - to the jail for disposal, Olmstead said.

Getting rid of electronics is easy, Plotner said. The hardest part may be finding the drop off site, at 5197 NW Lower River Rd., which is at the end of a branching maze-like driveway.

Electronic goods are accepted 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Drivers just need to fill out some paperwork once they find the warehouse, and they’re good to go.

The computer recycling program ships most electronics components to recyclers at no cost to the county, but the cathode ray tubes cost about $7.50 to trash. As a result, businesses, nonprofits and non-county residents are required to pay $10 for each CRT brought in for recycling.

County residents can drop off CRTs for free, and everyone can drop all other components at no charge.

“The county solid waste department pays the recycling fee for members of the public, but the county is not in the business of subsidizing business,” Plotner said.

Where it goes

Donors may dream that their old computers will wind up in class­rooms someday, but technology advances so quickly that most machines are worth more as parts than as computers, Plotner said.

“Most donations are so antiquated that there is no market value there,” he said. “The majority of the equipment we get is totally recycled.”

Inmates separate hard drive disks into one box, motherboards into another, and plastic into a third, each for reuse. CRTs, which contain lead and mercury, require special treatment by a third-party recycler who removes unsafe chemicals including lead.

“If people weren’t recycling with us, these chemicals would wind up in the trash,” Plotner said. “Just about every part of most machines can be recycled.”

“Putting this stuff in a landfill would be a really bad idea,” said Olmstead. “Especially with those CRT monitors, this trash is really hard on the environment.”

This year, the Clark County Jail Work Center has accepted 190 business donations at its computer recycling center, as well as countless donations from individuals. All told, 25,626 cathode ray tubes – used to power older TVs and computer monitors – have been kept out of junk yards since 2003 as a result of the program, Plotner said.

Protect your data

Sending your hard drive – with all your personal or business data – to be handled by inmates may sound pretty scary. In fact, it’s reasonably safe as long as you take precautions, Plotner said.

“I would recommend to most businesses, if they have confidential information, that they should erase it before it gets here,” Plotner said.

Olmstead suggests companies go even further. “We offer a Department of Defense level of data erase on the hard drive, which we charge $50 for,” he said. “We work with medical offices, financial institutions, who trust us to recycle their computers after that. They take security seriously.”

For additional peace of mind, donors can ask to have the hard drive destroyed at the time of drop off, Plotner said. “We’ll tear it apart right in front of them.”

Future of the program

Less safe than the future of your hard drive may be the future of the computer recycling program itself.

Under the Washington State Electronic Recycling Bill, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2009, manufacturers will be required to pay to cover the cost of recycling. The law makes electronics recycling free for residents and small businesses across the state, but except for CRT screens that’s already the case in Clark County.

It’s not clear yet whether programs such as the Clark County Jail Work Center computer program will be allowed to continue, or whether the law will move recycling into the hands of private industry.

“If we can be a player in the game, we would like to continue to do that, but we don’t want to present unfair competition so we’ll approach it with care,” Plotner said.