(Madison)---The Department of Corrections' Computer Recycling Program
has formed a partnership with Independent Electronic Recyclers. The
partnership, The Wisconsin Alliance for the Environment, has been created
to reduce the amount of electronic technology placed in landfills and to
reuse electronic technology wherever possible.
"This new partnership will be a cooperative effort between government
and the private sector to increase the diversion of electronic equipment
from landfills and to make wise reuse of equipment to benefit the citizens
of the state," said Steve Kronzer, Director of the Bureau of Correctional
Enterprises. "This alliance will also allow us to share resources with
private businesses and to conduct research jointly to increase the
financial benefit of recycling electronic technology."
The Computer Recycling Program currently employs approximately 100
inmates at four prisons in the state, the Redgranite Correctional
Institution, the Racine Youthful Offender Correctional Facility, the
Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac, and the Jackson
Correctional Institution in Black River Falls.
In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, the program collected and
diverted over 1.5 million pounds of electronic equipment from landfills.
In that same year, inmates cleaned, repaired and upgraded nearly a
thousand units (usually a PC, monitor and keyboard) which were then
donated or sold at nominal cost to preschools, daycares, and the elderly,
disabled or underprivileged. The program doubled collections, sales and
donations from the previous year.
"A 1999 study conducted by Stanford Resources, Inc. projected that in
2001 more than 41 million personal computers became obsolete," Kronzer
explained. "Of those, only 11% were recycled while the rest are in
warehouses, closets, basements, or landfills."
The Computer Recycling Program accepts donations of 10 or fewer
computers and electronic equipment at any of its 30 drop-off sites
throughout the state and will pick up donations of more than 10 pieces.
The program’s website http://www.buybsi.com/computer.html lists the
drop-off site locations and times of operation.
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