Electronic Waste

Got an old computer that’s ready to be rebooted to the junkyard? Don’t be a polluter -- send it to Shawn Kasner for recycling.
Kasner, 34, has launched E Waste Electronic Recycling, a business that strips computers and other electronic gear of their components for reuse.
“A lot of people are starting to realize the necessity of not throwing their old computers in landfills,” Kasner says.
He notes that the cumulative effect of trashing millions of obsolete computers has made electronic waste a topic of national concern.
Kasner’s business is located at 515 Franklin in Traverse City, where he and his partner, Brandon McMaster, recycle outdated monitors, keyboards, computers, scanners, printers and copiers, “dead or alive.”
HARD KNOCKS
He got into the business in an unusual way after a youthful education in the school of hard knocks. The marks of that experience are visible in the extensive tattoos on his body, which he began acquiring at the age of 16.
“I’m from Spokane, Washington originally, and have been on my own since the age of 13,” he recalls. “When I was younger, I knew all the wrong people and always seemed to be getting into trouble.”
Kasner married at the age of 23 and moved to Traverse City to start a new life. He’s divorced now, but stays active with his 11-year-old son, Casey.
Turning his life around included earning an associates degree in visual arts communications from Northwestern Michigan College (NMC). He started a business, Prodigy Graphics, which works with local bands to package, design and duplicate their CDs. The business provides other tech services, such as transferring films to a DVD format.
His E Waste business grew out of a chance observation.
“One day, we were cleaning up our shop and taking some junk to the landfill,”
he recalls. “And I saw all of these old computers right in the landfill, being bulldozed into the ground.
“I thought a lot about that over the year and did some research online,” he continues. “I saw that people were starting to recycle computers -- separating the parts, like the metal, wiring and components.”

GETTING STARTED
Based on his research, Kasner decided to launch his own computer recycling business last spring. He quickly attracted the interest of the local business community and ended up recycling 120 computers, printers and other electronic gear within a four-month period. Clients have included NMC, Coldwell Banker and a mortgage company.
To paraphrase an old miner’s saying, there’s gold in them-there computers, which have a variety of precious metals in their circuitry and wiring. In addition to gold, an obsolete computer might yield copper, aluminum and platinum. “Some of the older computers even have chunks of silver in them,” Kasner says.
There are also toxic substances, such as lead, zinc and mercury. “A lot of monitors, especially, have lead-based glass, which if you break it, can be very detrimental.”
In addition to recycling the metals, E Waste also offers computer components for sale locally or on Ebay. “If you’re looking for hard-to-find older computer parts, we have hard drives, mother boards and sound cards,” Kasner says.
“It’s harder to deal with the plastic housings,” he adds. “No one wants them because they’re hard-based plastics and can’t be recycled. We’re trying to find concrete factories that might want them for their kilns.”
Old monitors can also be difficult to recycle, prompting a $5 disposal fee.
It’s not all about recycling, however. Kasner hopes to be able to rebuild some of the cast-off computers he receives in order to donate them to needy kids.

For information on disposing of obsolete computers and electronic equipment, call
E Waste at
231-947-7436.




The E-Waste Problem

Electronic waste (or E-waste) has grown in its destructive potential since the dawn of the computer age.
“Between 1997 and 2007, nearly 500 million personal computers became obsolete,” reports the National Recycling Association. “That’s almost two computers for each person in the U.S.”
E-waste generates toxic materials and heavy metals which can poison groundwater.
Another problem is the unscrupulous practice of some U.S. companies which export obsolete computers to third world countries where dangerous reclamation practices are used by uninformed and poorly-protected employees.
“Electronic waste already constitutes 2% to 5% of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream and is growing rapidly,” states an E-waste management firm called Intercon Solutions. “European studies estimate that the volume of electronic waste is rising by 3% to 5% per year - almost three times faster than the municipal waste stream.”
Obsolete cell phones and TVs are adding to the problem:
“Nearly two million tons of used electronics, including computers and televisions, are discarded each year. In addition, an estimated 128 million cell phones are retired from use annually, according to the EPA.”
Intercon Solutions notes that each computer or television monitor contains four-to-eight lbs. of lead. The 315 million computers that became obsolete between 1997 and 2004 contained more than 1.2 billion lbs. of lead, much of which went into landfills.
“Monitor glass contains about 20% lead by weight. When these components are illegally disposed and crushed in landfills, the lead is released into the environment, posing a hazardous legacy for current and future generations,” Intercon Solutions states. “Consumer electronics already constitute 40% of lead found in landfills. About 70% of the heavy metals, including mercury and other hazardous substances found in electronics can contaminate groundwater and pose other environmental and public health risks.”
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