There\'s life left in that old computer

Thanks to e-cycling programs like the Electronic RecyclingAssociation, Lenovo Canada, and Micro Alternative Solutions,however, Canadians can reduce their waste and feel good that theirold systems are going to new homes.

Electronics can contain a variety of toxic elements, includinglead, beryllium, cadmium, mercury, and plastic, all of which canlead to health and environmental problems if disposed ofimproperly.

"There is no need for technology to be out in the landfill," saysBojan Paduh, the founder and a director of Edmonton-basedElectronic Recycling Association, a national non-profitorganization that accepts unwanted electronics for recycling.

With offices in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, and working withpartners in Toronto as well as parts of the United States, therecycling association collects computers and refurbishes theequipment for donation back to the community and the non-profitsector.

Paduh created the recycling association was created five years agobecause he says there were few government regulations or programsin place to deal with disposed electronics such as officeequipment, vending machines, telecommunications equipment, mobilephones, servers, and other items.

"Our focus is on reusing; computers are tools," he says.

Immigrating to Canada from India when he was a teenager, Paduh sayshe learned English and was able to keep up with education thanks toa computer given to his family by a friend.

Recycling individual computer parts can profit businesses and theenvironment. "Computers contain many valuable materials, and it isgenerally more efficient environmentally to reclaim these materialsthan to extract and refine them from raw materials," says MikePierce of Lenovo Canada.

Lenovo has been recycling computers since 2005. Originally launchedby Lenovo China, the program was aimed at accepting computers fromcommercial customers and refurbishing them for donation or resaleto schools.

Pierce says computers returned from commercial sources live to seeanother day through refurbishment, while those returned byindividual consumers are often too old to be reused and have littlemarket value. In such cases, the systems' individual components areconsidered for use as maintenance parts.

While the recycling association accepts electronics donations freeof charge, Lenovo, along with many other computer companies,charges for the service of recycling equipment