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May 4, 2011

"This week in Chicago" Time Out Chicago

The image shocks: youngsters sorting through mountains of tech garbage in developing countries such as Ghana, Pakistan and China. They burn plastic casings in search of salable copper wire, or rip out hard drives to mine for personal data like credit card info, e-mail passwords and Social Security numbers. Discard your outmoded tech in the wrong place, donate to the wrong recycler, and it could end up on a mound, too.

Intercon Solutions, based in Chicago Heights, makes its bread and butter on securing the data of discarded technology. Founded in California in the '80s, Intercon is the largest recycler of its kind in the world. "We have trucks running through Chicago daily that are picking up from large corporate clients," CEO Brian Brundage says. But Intercon is open to average Joes, too. "Most people that find us are probably looking for more the complete secure data destruction end of things, whether it's a PDA, cell phone, home computer or laptop," he adds. The recycling fee for a PC tower is about $6.50, but prices are in flux. "If you look at the overall metal and material markets, everything is pretty sky high," Brundage says. "If the markets keep going that way, the fees will come down, or there won't be fees."

Sure, it costs nothing to "secure your data" by taking a hammer to your used hard drive before tossing it. But there's an environmental benefit to using a service like Intercon, which breaks tech waste down to its components. E-waste contains a mix of precious metals, reusable substances and toxic chemicals — and it's bad news when dumped or incinerated. Currently, uncertified recyclers or retail stores that take your computer or smartphone could be doing anything with your discarded tech.

"Recyclers that do not [have certifications from an independent, reputable group] might just pull out the valued precious metals and black-trash-bag the other materials into the nearest landfill. They might also try to pull any valued reusable components, if any, and then get rid of the rest of the components," Brundage says. And shredding is wasteful: It "commingles metals and that cross-contaminates the metal or material product," he says.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates the world produces 20 million – 50 million tons of e-waste every year. The U.S. is a big contributor to the pile — so much so that the Environmental Protection Agency can track only 20 percent with any certainty and the Government Accountability Office says the EPA is making lackluster progress in that area. While some tech shipped to China can be truly refurbished or recycled for the gray market, much of it ends up on the mounds, says Casey Harrell of Greenpeace. He points out that it costs very little to load empty shipping containers going to the developing world with e-waste — and the U.S. has no federal laws against exporting e-waste. The EU and Japan, on the other hand, have laws and infrastructure in place for dealing with the tech-junk pileup, though Europe still exports some e-waste for "reuse."

Meanwhile, Intercon ensures 100 percent no-landfill recycling, taking discarded tech junk back to raw material form and selling the metals and such to domestic manufacturers. "A lot of people talk the talk about doing environmental good and we're walking the walk," Brundage boasts.

While electronics manufacturers have made great strides in reducing toxic material in their products — far less lead is used these days — the e-waste issue is a million-ton mountain that we can't just haul away.

For rates on recycling through Intercon, visit interconrecycling.com. Go to e-stewards.org for a list of responsible e-waste recyclers.

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