Literally tons of broken or out-of-date electronic equipment of all sorts was dropped off last weekend for free recycling in a parking lot at Seattle Pacific University.
So much of it was coming in that trucks were still loading up the e-waste on Monday.
The parking lot was empty because it's spring break at the Free Methodist university, but the recycling drive still came as a surprise, said SPU spokeswoman Tracy Norlen. "They kind of forgot to tell our campus people what they were doing."
They refers to employees of Recycle Engage Neutralize Electronic Waste (RENEW), a business launched by 2002 SPU grad, Jason Purcell, Norlen said.
RENEW takes a holistic and safety-conscious approach to recycling, according to the company's Web site. All of the data on discarded computers, for instance, are eliminated with a military-grade data wiper.
The company also employees technicians to take a look at everything from computers to cameras to cellphones to TVs to video cameras to salvage anything that is still useful, according to the RENEW Web site. If the equipment passes scrutiny, it is sent out for reuse.
RENEW will also see if the equipment can be repaired so it can be reused. If something can't be fixed and reused, the company will salvage parts from the equipment that can used to fix other equipment, the Web site says.
If all other efforts fail, the electronic gear is put through a crusher. Toxic materials such as lead are separated and sent to U.S. companies that can recycle them in a 100 percent environmentally way, according to the Web site.
Other raw materials such as cooper, aluminum, rare metals, glass and plastics can then be resold to electronics manufacturers "who gladly buy these raw materials because they realize they are the source of why we have all these items," the Web site states.
Purcell said he launched RENEW about a month ago and used the California-based ECA Company as a role model. "They try to reuse as much as possible," he said, adding that ECA is where much of the SPU recyclables will be sent. Non-reusable materials such as TVs and computer monitors will be sent to Integra, another California recycling company.
Between 80 to 90 percent of the recycled material will be junk, Purcell allowed. "The other 10 to 20 percent are materials we can resell for a profit."
Purcell - a Queen Anne resident who owns Martial Sports across Nickerson from the SPU campus - said RENEW is a for-profit company that has teamed up with the Union Gospel Mission in downtown Seattle. "I'm hoping we raised at least $5,000 for the Union Gospel Mission," he said.
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