Green PC

Give It Away

Artwork: Chip Taylor

Donate your old PC to a good cause. Many people are are reluctant to throw away or recycle an obsolete yet functional computer. Even if your local elementary school won't take it, various organizations can use old but serviceable hardware to help communities around the world and to prolong the equipment's useful life. As an incentive, if you donate to a recognized nonprofit organization, you may get a tax break.

InterConnection Computer Donation, for example, uses donated computers to set up computer and communications centers for economic development and disaster relief. Computer Aid International provides similar services but focuses its work on impoverished parts of Africa. Portland, Oregon-based Free Geek works with donated hardware to teach computer skills to low-income residents of U.S. communities. The Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network project takes a different approach, building equipment out of old and donated computers to operate wireless community networks; CUWIN projects are now in operation in low-income areas of Illinois, as well as in Ghana and South Africa. Shipping costs are on your dime, and you don't get paid for the hardware, but you do get to help make the world a better place.

Recycle locally. If you're tired of having old hardware fill up your closets, and your vendor won't take it back, you still have options. In many localities, the garbage dump, a hardware store, or an office supply retailer will gladly take the old equipment off your hands and dispose of it properly (sometimes for a small fee).

The Electronic Industries Alliance lists agencies and companies that can recycle your used equipment, along with consumer information about toxic materials. Earth 911 lets you search for electronic recycling centers by zip code. And the Basel Action Network ties electronics recycling to other social concerns; BAN also maintains a list of recyclers that pledge to uphold a set of ethical standards. The cost of recycling hardware can vary considerably, from nothing to about $30, but many locations regularly host free electronics recycling drives to encourage responsible disposal; the Earth911 site links to such efforts around the country.

Hosted by eBay, the Rethink Initiative brings together over two dozen top technology manufacturers, retailers, and interested nonprofit organizations to figure out ways to help consumers dispose of e-waste responsibly. Not surprisingly, eBay's number one tip is to sell your old hardware, but the site also offers links to services that accept old computer hardware for recycling. Rethink also sponsors recycling events and provides tips and tools for encouraging e-waste recycling in your community.

Reuse It

Postpone new PC purchases. Be honest--are you buying a new PC because you need it or because you want it? One sensible way to be a green technophile is to buy new gear less often. Such restraint reduces your contribution to production and disposal wastes--and the longer you wait, the likelier you are to get a cleaner and faster machine when you do buy new.

That doesn't mean you forgo any boost, though. More RAM, a better video card, even a processor upgrade can make your old PC feel new again, besides saving you money and producing less e-waste. (Check out "Reinvent Your PC" and "Get More Out of Your PC" for an array of upgrade ideas.)

In the end, "reduce, reuse, recycle" should be your guide. Reduce the amount of energy and materials by your gear requires by choosing hardware that's manufactured as cleanly and that runs as efficiently as possible. Reuse what you can instead of simply trashing it; the steps you take can be as simple as reusing the back side of printouts for drafts and notes, or as serious as transforming your old computers into wireless routers (see James Martin's April 2005 Mobile Computing column, "Old Notebooks, New Lives," for tips on turning an old notebook into a jukebox). Recycle whatever is left over, giving the component material new life and keeping it out of the waste stream.

The best thing about going cybergreen is that you're already doing it, whether you know it or not. Manufacturers are cleaning up their product lines to meet global regulations, and they're incorporating high-efficiency components to meet the demands of government and corporate buyers. You may not have bought your IBM flat-panel display or your HP laptop to save energy, and you may not have known that your new Dell OptiPlex contains no polybrominated biphenyls--but the planet benefits from those changes nonetheless.

Hardware makers recognize that environmental friendliness is an increasingly important issue for consumers, corporate buyers, and governments, and they are taking some impressive steps to clean up their act. In fact, the computer industry may be about to change the world again--this time, for the greener.