Our wired society spews profligate e-waste, and recycling it is no small feat for weary municipalities. Computers left curbside for a Waste Management special pickup may be stolen overnight, then end up in a Dumpster after all. But e-waste is in good hands at the Alameda County Computer Resource Center. Founded in 1994 by James Burgett, ACCRC will recycle anything that can be plugged into a power outlet, free of charge. (For Berkeley residents, pick-up is also free.) Musty electronics are rehabbed for use at schools and nonprofits, or donated to those in need. Computers beyond help are distilled to their recyclable base elements: the lead smelted from the glass in cathode ray tubes, the circuit boards ground down so metal alloys can be reclaimed. And because Burgett used to be a homeless junkie, he proudly employs many former drug addicts and convicts. “Obsolescence,” goes the ACCRC motto, “is just a lack of imagination.”
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Alameda County Computer Resource Center