This is a complex topic and we've generated reams of paper on it already. To provide a manageable introduction I will enter a couple of initial posts, and then we'll add links and workspace pages as we go along.

Why CompuMentor is taking on this problem

All good projects start with people and in Jim Lynch, CompuMentor has had for many years a passionate advocate of addressing this issue. A longtime CM project manager and for several years our development director, Jim turned himself into one of the most informed people in the world on the subject of reuse and recycling. About two years ago, Microsoft decided to make licenses for operating systems available for a token cost to non-commercial refurbishers...and chose CompuMentor to administer this MAR (Microsoft Authorized Reseller) program. This gave us a platform in the field...a bully pulpit so to speak. At the same time, we started building an industrial strength CRM system that would give us the capacity to organize and track the kind of complex transactions that would be involved in any large scale program in this field.

The linchpin of it all, of course, was the connection between problem and opportunity expressed in the intro to this discussion. You don't often get the chance to make this kind of social connection. As an organization we felt highly motivated to simultaneously make a big difference in both environmental protection and technology access for the underserved

Environmental costs of current U.S. approach to end of life computers

Nearly 25 million computers are obsolesced in the U.S. each year by businesses and consumers as they upgrade to faster and newer models. Most of these used computers are discarded or sold for scrap. Currently, 7M computers are added to U.S. landfills and account for the largest source (40%) of lead and other toxics polluting US groundwater. About 2 million tons of e-trash was generated in 2001, the last year for which numbers are available, according to estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to new findings by Eric D. Williams of United Nations University, adding two to three years of life to a significant percentage of the 65 million computers that are now sold in the US annually saves 5 to 20 times more energy than recycling over each computer's life cycle. It’s much better for the environment to extend computer life and then recycle than to recycle computers and buy new ones every 3 to 4 years. Williams’ found that to produce a new computer takes 1.8 cubic tons of water, fossil fuels and chemicals that together weigh as much as an SUV. We estimate that each refurbished and redistributed computer will save 12 lbs in so-called e-waste. Experts in the computer recycling field from Robert Tonetti of the US EPA to Ted Smith of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition acknowledge that a robust computer reuse system is a core environmental necessity.

In addition, the computer recycling field remains undeveloped and unable to take care of the current e-waste volume. “Tech recycling now is where aluminum-can recycling was 20 years ago”, said Walt Rosenberg, vice president for corporate, social and environmental responsibility at Hewlett-Packard Co. "One of the big inhibitors is a lack of refined recycling infrastructure globally for computer equipment."

Opportunity to address Digitial Divide at scale

Due to high recycling costs, lack of standards and capacity among the nation’s refurbishers, and difficulties connecting donors and appropriate recipients, only 10% of the computers that are retired by businesses are refurbished for reuse and an even smaller portion of those are targeted for non-profit organizations, schools and low-income families who need them the most.

At the same time, the total demand from non-profits for computers in good working condition totals nearly 28 million annually. There are currently no comprehensive processes, industry standards or effective intermediaries handling computer reuse in a manner that can successfully channel these resources out of the waste stream and into the donation stream. Nearly all of the roughly 400 non-commercial refurbishers (NCRs) in the U.S. work on a local, low-volume basis, and process only a few hundred computers with volunteer staff. Commercial refurbishers (CRs) and scrap metal companies have a broader reach and more efficient operations, but have little familiarity or capability in handling computers for the non-profit market. The supply chain of refurbished computers is further hampered by a lack of consistent standards for refurbished equipment, the unavailability of low-cost operating system software and donors’ lack of knowledge about different options for their old equipment.

Where we are headed with this project

CompuMentor’s unique solution to the problem of e-waste is to increase by an order of magnitude the number of computers that are refurbished for aftermarket use by nonprofit organizations (and by other organizations serving disadvantaged communities,and also, quite possibly,by economically disadvantaged individuals), and to reduce the massive inefficiency in this aftermarket by acting as a clearinghouse to streamline the computer donation-refurbishing-distribution supply chain, and moreover, increase the disposal of personal computers in a way that is environmentally safe.

The work that we propose to do addresses a root cause of the computer consumption and disposal problem – a robust computer reuse system that adds 2 to 3 years of life to IT equipment in the US reduces the number of computers needed by the country on a yearly basis. The distribution system we’re designing makes used computers optimally useable via standards and is a closed loop system in which the equipment is properly disposed of at true end of life.

Long Term Goals

1. To create a national online clearinghouse within five years that will make up to 500,000 refurbished computers per year available to users at a target price of $25-50/computer, which will provide earned income to sustain the project over the long term.
2. To extend the use life of corporate computers by 2-3 years.
3. To reduce e-waste from corporate computers by 14500 Tons each year (Approx. 58lbs per computer).

Short Term Objectives

1. Prove that donated Computers can be donated, refurbished at an affordable cost,and sold at a viable price.
2. Exercise and validate the overall process. Identify, and address incorrect assumptions based on feedback.
3. Develop metrics to demonstrate that the RCI can have a significant impact on the numbers of computers that become waste and increase the use life of computers to meet the needs of nonprofits.
4. Refine business proposition and better understand the cost structure (for donors, refurbishers, and nonprofits)

Implementation Plan

To accomplish these goals and objectives, RCI’s implementation plan consists of five key components:

1. An online marketplace where donors, refurbishers and users can donate, sell, and buy refurbished computers. This website will build upon the highly successful nonprofit Web portal and software distribution models of TechSoup and TechSoup Stock.
2. A distribution and payment system. The distribution system will provide basic inventory and supply/demand matching capabilities. CompuMentor will generate program revenues by charging a fee of $40 per computer to donor corporations, a fee that will be analogous to the fee they pay recyclers to dispose of old systems. In addition, CompuMentor will charge a fee to users of $25-$50 per computer. CompuMentor will facilitate point of sale and distribution but will not take physical or legal possession of computers for order fulfillment.
3. A set of national standards (in conjunction with the Basel Convention and the Technology Reuse Association) that specify consistent minimum specifications for quality, data cleansing, and hardware/software configurations will govern all the processes of our program.
4. Access to low-cost aftermarket operating systems from Microsoft (through the Microsoft Authorized Reseller program) as well as open source providers which will significantly drive down the price for nonprofit buyers.
5. A closed-loop process for environmentally safe disposal/recycling of computers that have reached the end of their useful life. As a condition of sale, Nonprofits will return computers no longer useful back into the system for further refurbishment or final recycling. A deposit refund will also be used as incentive.

CompuMentor proposes to pilot the above model on a small scale with 2-3 corporate donors, 2-3 quality refurbishers, and a minimum of 20 small and medium sized nonprofits (not limited to the Bay Area) in order to test RCI’s overall feasibility and sustainability. CompuMentor will obtain donations with a minimum configuration of Pentium III, 128KB RAM, and 6 GB disk and work with refurbishers to prepare the computers for sale with a standards-based approach that includes guaranteed data wipe and installation of new operating systems, and begin development of a distribution and payment system. CompuMentor will also promote the project and place donations through the TechSoup.

The proposed RCI pilot project represents a crucial step toward developing a large scale sustainable “eco-system” for computer reuse. We project that more than 14500 tons of e-waste can be kept out of landfill per year. Over time, this “eco-system” will refurbish and extend the life of millions of used computers that would otherwise end up in dump sites and put them in the hands of nonprofits and low-income users around the world who cannot afford to buy a computer.

This looks great so far. Count me in please. I will take your comment home with me and let them "soak" so I can catch up a bit. I hope to be of some help.

I suggest recycling initiatives should chat with Charles Brennick at http://computers.interconnection.org/ and the folks at http://www.freegeek.org/ who have recycling initiatives underway now.

Phil, I appreciate the heads-up. I'm a big admirer of Oso Martin's work at FreeGeek in Portland and readily refer refurbishers who want to work with open source software to them. I did a section on Oso and the open source movement in my 'Islands in the Wastestream' study.

I haven't had the chance to get to know Charles Brennick very well at all at Interconnection in Seattle, although Interconnection is a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher. They are a very interesting nonprofit computer exporter to developing countries and are affiliated with the most prominent US international nonprofit exporter, World Computer Exchange. We have a working group interested in export standards that are in keeping with the work of Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. It occurs to me that Charles would be a valuable addition to this effort.

Thanks!

-jim

This is a very good idea. Would like to get involved in any ways possible. Working in the valley it saddens to see so much PCs going to waste when they could have been so useful in so many other places i.e Africa. Question for you: Why is the minimum spec a Pentium III? I can understand in the U.S that should be a minimum but i think a PIII is a luxury in other places and high end PIIs can be very useful.

I agree with the above post. I'd be interested in seeing some of the older computers from the US go to Latin America, where even older computers could be a big help!

My two cents. I'm now checking out www.compumentor.org in another window!

A couple of thoughts from another practitioner in the digital divide / computer recyling space (Computers for Youth):

1. Tech Support. Without tech support, you may as well be giving away bricks. The same goes for:
2. Training. Whether face to face, or culturally appropriate training materials, or both.

If we want to be sure that refurbished computers are not only kept out of landfills, but also used, we have to build these supports in.

I'd like to bring to everyone's attention another use for the older PCs... establishing a wifi mesh network in your community (wherever it may be!). The Champaign-Urbana Wireless Network CUWiN project is making great headway.

The objective here is to establish a wireless internet and intranet infrastructure. I dont recall the minimum equipment recommended.

Connected with that is the WCN Wireless Community Network a project of the Center For Neighborhood Technology. http://www.cnt.org/ They are putting out refurnished PCs that build out a wireless mesh network off of 4 Internet points of presence in Illinois.

I'll certainly echo the point on 1) tech support and 2) training. John Stanton and I developed a project we called the Youth Community Technology Project (YCTP) where youth were trained on how to build and repair pc's. Our goal was to cultivate technologists in our community. We focused on youth because that was the funding we received, but we think our model was scalable and very much worth while. http://www.yctp.org/

My general point is that older equipment still has use, and the use I am recommending builds a network of support and a network of engagement.

I wanted to comment on Mbaki Mutahaba & David Maurer's question about why not PII's going to developing countries.

PII's are definitely useful in developing countries. World Links (a program of the World Bank), SchoolNet Africa out of Johannesburg, Digital Links International in London, World Computer Exchange in Boston, and Computers for Schools Canada, have all done basic research and installations in S. America and Africa that bear that out.

In addition, this past year Microsoft has made Windows licensing available for refurbishers based in N. America and Europe where the overwhelming supply of useable computers is, and enlarged the Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher program to permit refurbishers to supply not only schools and NGOs in their own countries, but also to supply working computers to schools and NGOs in developing countries.

Wayne Tosh at Computers for Schools Canada believes that N. America will largely supply South America, and that Europe will supply Africa. The Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher program Microsoft also made a decision to keep Windows 98 available to refurbishers for use on PI's and PII's so that OS's wouldn't be a barrier to using earlier generations of computers. Also this past year, the World Bank has made a committment to supply 10,000 computers to developing countries. There are good solid structures falling in to place to make good useable PII's available and useable in the developing world. It's just that hardly anyone knows about it. To my knowledge nobody has done a comprehensive survey of what all is going on in this area of international development. Does anyone else know of one?

-jim

Let's also not forget about Linux and other Open Source software, like Open Office. There's huge international interest in Linux, and Linux runs better on slow, low-memory computers than recent versions of Windows.

While it's a very good thing that Microsoft has made Windows 98 available for P-Is and P-IIs, Linux is being explored as an option by many people.

Mark

Mark wrote:

Linux runs better on slow, low-memory computers than recent versions of Windows.

I'd actaully love to get more detail behind that -- specifically, which Linux distributions run on slow, low-memory computers. Do you know of any research that provides insight into the different Linux distributions.

That said, I think there is huge potential for productivity software -- OpenOffice, for example -- runs on Windows as well.

There are particular distributions of Linux intended to have a really small footprint (memory and HD), and there are also excellent Terminal Server projects that reduce management overhead (LTSP-Linux Terminal Server Project, and the K12 LTSP). We have some fairly knowledgable folks on that subject on the techtalk mailing list at http;//www.npotechs.org/

Regards,

MM

Excellent ideas, I'm hoping one day to become a customer. I have plans to start a charity computer school in Cebu in the Philippines.

In addition, I'm a 'tech support bod' by trade and may be able to lend my skills to the project somehow.

The models I reference can be DIY

There's a new (rough) workspace at /group/showcase/ws/virtual_geek_roof/ to address the possibility of resource-sharing between various computer recycling initiatives. It emerged out of exploring ways that Gerry's Learning by Doing Technology Labs could help those initiatives.

I wasn't aware of this discussion when I started it, but I'll let them know.

Also wanted to put in a good word for linux terminal server projects. One powerful young server can turn a bunch of near-paperweight old ones into viable workspaces -- tends to have some advantages for sysadmin too.

/showcase/virtual geek roof

oops. major hacker credibility hit.

Thanks, Ted

" There are good solid structures falling in to place to make good useable PII's available and useable in the developing world. It's just that hardly anyone knows about it. "

Jim,

A devil's advocate question about this comes to mind.

What are the Africans and Latin Americans supposed to do about the landfill problem when all of the developed world's old computers end up there?

Christina (Uganda)

Christina as Americans think of how they can discard those old computers Africans and Latin Americans feel that even those old can do.

So the problem of how they will deal with land fill would come later.For now assist them even with those old models.

Just noticed this discussion. Thanks for linking to the Learning by Doing project, Ethan.

I personally recycle machines by keeping them running with Linux. I have a network of four machines that are probably 7-10 years old. I also have an antique machine that is 25 years old, but that's a collectors item and I haven't tried to boot in in years (a Victor 9000 if you are curious).

Moses, my question is not about whether or not old models are useful in Africa or Latin America or not. Believe me, I'd be the last to say that they aren't!

If I understand correctly, however, a primary motivation behind this initiative is to tackle the computers in landfills problem. Seems to me that exporting old computers can do a lot of good in other ways, but as far as the landfill problem is concerned, all we're talking about here really is moving the problem, not solving it. Moreover, we're moving it to places that are less well equipped (now) to deal with it (over the long run), and that have serious problems with rapid environmental degradation already.

I do realize that most ordinary Africans don't think much about the environmental effects of being the worlds largest dumping ground for used stuff, but I didn't think about these issues much once upon a time either. The landfill issue was not always a problem we saw and/or understood in America. Then it became a problem of crisis scale, populations were educated and sensitized, and now living in Africa I can't help but think about it.

There's an interesting article I'll share here about how Africa has been the dumping ground for the world's used stuff - the author argues it's to the detriment of productive African industry.

http://kabiza.com/OutofAfrica-Ezine-July2004-dead-man-clothing.htm

I floated this article with some of our trainees when it came out. Like you Moses, they all said it was more important to get stuff cheaply from the west than to worry about any long-term environmental or economic problems. History repeats itself. Such is the human condition.

Without judging this or any other recycling initiative (I certainly don't have the answers, simply the concerns) I do still wonder what thoughts Jim et al. have on the longer term future of these initiatives on the landfills in the developing countries that are targetted. Given the objectives of the initiative, I can't help but feel it merits a bit of thought.

My best,

Christina

Christina,

Thanks for that link. You raise some very important points, and I would have a difficult time giving a full endorsement to any plan to ship old computers to Africa and Latin America that didn't address to some extent the environmental concerns Daniel pointed out in his first comment.

I also appreciate your careful choice of words: "a" primary concern rather than "the" primary concern. There are, of course, considerations other than just getting rid of these computers, including some that would arguably save the importing countries some environmental costs, at least assuming (unsafely) that they would otherwise do some of the manufacturing themselves. Computer manufacturing requires tremendous resources, so if we increase computers' life spans (in a way that manages to slow the rate of manufacture), we can use fewer resources overall.

However, though I'm no expert on the subject, I suspect that large scale computer manufacturing for domestic markets is not near at hand in Africa or Latin America (though manufacturing pricy new computer parts for export may not be far off). This takes away some of the damaging "dumping ground" effects referred to in Christina's article, because computers would not be in competition with local producers. It could also take away the local resource benefits I mentioned above, of course, if there would otherwise be very little computer usage at all.

Which leads to the very important question of whether Africa and Latin America want computers. And if so, do they hope to leapfrog past the lead-heavy CRT monitors and go straight to LEDs (a far more expensive option, but it addresses Christina's concerns about dumping US and others' toxics problems abroad)?

Also, we'd probably be well advised to think of computers as something other than a normal import product like clothes or furniture because of the magnitude of their potential educational, cultural, and economic repercussions. I won't attempt to weigh those here, but the cheap old hardware we're talking about has plenty of power in it to have a great deal of impact.

Christina,

We are so delighted to hear from you! One major concern in all this is that the US is currently recycling only about 13% of its discarded computers, and so while developing countries have little electronics recycling capacity, we still need to get our own house in order as soon as possible to deal with the 50 million computers that are obsoleted each year here. CompuMentor's work in regard to responsible export to date are:

1. Engaging European based suppliers like London based Digital Links who are the main charity conduit of computers to Africa in the near-term. We're just trying to find out how they work and what their concerns are.
2. More deeply engaging the US based environmental organizations who are addressing the US ewaste dumping problem, which is significant. The two lead agencies are Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and Basel Action Network. We are working with them to form guidelines for responsible charity export. The guidelines will probably try to insure that IT equipment that is supplied to developing countries be in working condition, shipped in a way that minimizes breakage, and that equipment is new enough to have considerable life left in it. Recycling capacity in both the developed world and the developing world does not take place until there is a need for it (enough e-waste to justify capital investment). World Computer Exchange, which is the largest US charity exporter, also requires recipients to submit to them some explanation on how equipment is supported and also a statement of how it will be disposed of at end-of-life.

3. We're also following the work of Robin Ingenthron who has formed a new non-profit organization, filed in Vermont, World Reuse Repair and Recycling Association (WR3A), which addresses the work of commercial e-scrap exporters. Essentially I think Robin is working with Chinese importers to califbrate their needs, envrionmental disposal concerns in Asia, and the booming e-scrap export business in North America. He starts with market realities and is trying to forge realistic standards that that industry can live with. See http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/10/prweb168069.php

-jim

Thanks Christina, I like the lateral thinking.

The same goes for other used things, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) recently aired a program on the Alang ship breaking yard in India, when tanker ships and the like reach the end of their useful lives, they are sent to places like Alang in the Third World, mainly becaese there isn't the environmental and H&S legislation there is in the West, making it much cheaper (in dollars) to break the ships up; the cost however is in human lives as H&S for the workers is practically non-existant.

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/bigbreak/story.html

It is a sad fact that is seems the developed world not only exploits LDCs in the original over-production, it then re-exploits LDCs in the recycling and disposal of the waste from our over-consumption. Tragic.

How about

In (I think) Germany car manufacturers are expected to increase the percentage of recyclable materials used in their manufacturing process, they are also expected to accept 'end of life' cars through their dealerships in order to recycle as much as they can. Perhaps an international law doing the same for computer, car, ship, plane, etc, parts would be a good idea, so that even after being used in Africa, when the computer/car/ship finally does die, Dell, Ford and the like accept them back for recycling?