Letter to the Oregon Energy and the Environment Committee Members

To the Energy and the Environment Committee members:
With the average life of a computer now between 2-3 years, obsolete electronics equipment is becoming an increasing risk to the environment. A United Nations study found that to manufacture an average desktop computer and 17-inch CRT monitor requires about 1.8 tons of raw materials, primarily fossil fuels, chemicals, and water. The study also found that extending a computer's operating life through upgrades or donations for reuse saved 5-20 times more energy than recycling the computer.

U.S. schools currently need 9 million additional PCs. U.S. charities need an additional 4.2 million PCs

Students of color are 30% less likely to have a PC in the home, the “Digital Divide”

The Federal Government disposes of 10,000 PCs per week

Corporations and individuals dispose of 100,000 PCs per day

I am here to tell you about our nonprofit’s electronics refurbishing and recycling facility so you can see the impact and importance of organizations such as ours to our community members.

NextStep
1)    Educates and empowers low income and otherwise disadvantaged Oregonians by providing refurbished computers that allow access to technology and the Internet;
2)    Recycles computer hardware and other electronics in an environmentally sound manner, keeping hazardous waste out of Oregon’s soil and water environments; and
3)    Provides skill-training opportunities to those who are considered unemployable, are currently underemployed, and/or are people new to the job market.

Since I founded NextStep Recycling in 1999, volunteers and staff have repaired, placed and served as a technical support resource for over 10,000 computers and their new owners: people who experience disabilities, people who are home bound and/or bed ridden, elders, children living in Oregon foster care homes, adults who have been moving from institutional care into group homes, economically disadvantaged youth and adults, migrant workers and their children. Since expanding and opening our electronics recycling facility in 2004, we have recycled 750 tons of electronic waste. Three years ago we were all volunteers working out of my mother-in-laws garage.  We now occupy 18,000 square feet of space that is home to our thrift store, our electronic recycling facility, our electronic refurbishing facility, a receiving room, and our warehouse. We are also the reuse contractor for Lane County Solid Waste Management’s Electronics receiving station where we have accepted 170 tons of reusable electronics.

Our volunteers include individuals from age 16 to 90 years old. We are partnered with Springfield High School Special Education Program, Laurel Hill Center, McKenzie Personnel, Lane Workforce Partnership, The Housing Authority, Voc Rehab, AARP and other training programs.

Our community has demonstrated their interest and support in refurbishing computers. We first started out as a Macintosh fixit and pass it on grassroots organization. After moving into a public site, our donors begged us to take their PCs too. Then when we began our recycling program, community members asked us to accept their household electronics. We now say if it plugs in or runs on batteries, we probably take it!

We receive donations from all over Oregon, Washington, and even California. We are a member of a growing and increasingly stable industry, and support this bill. One thing we hear over and over from our community members in our donations receiving room is “I am so glad you are here. I don’t want to throw this stuff out and I have been saving it up for recycling”.

We hope that this bill will come to pass and that two keys elements will be included: reuse before recycling and funding to educate the public about the importance of full participation in the program.

Respectfully,
Lorraine Kerwood