Amazing afterlife for center computers

General Article

Armed with will and technological know-how, you too can recycle old center computers to needy countries and communities

Juliet Troche recycled old center computers for a small town in Mexico. Photo by Todd McNaught

A small mouse may feel lost and confused as it struggles to find the prize at the end of the maze, an experience perhaps shared by persons paying a visit to the Lea Warehouse on Valley Street. As the market for used computers starts to weaken, the warehouse is starting to look more like a maze, with stacks of hundreds of unused computers from Fred Hutchinson filling the large space.

"We used to sell the computers to employees for cheap," said Ron Hood, Information Technology (IT) voice data operations manager. "But for the past three or four years the market for used computers has been so poor that basically we have been piling them up and shipping them out to someone that recycles them."

Fred Hutchinson has a desktop population of 2,000 to 2,500 computers. With a workload that requires up-to-date technology, IT attempts to purchase new computers every three to five years. This means that the center turns over 500 to 600 computers a year adding to a large surplus of unused technology.

As the center continues to turnover more computers and the warehouse maze continues to expand, so does the need for technology in less advantaged countries. So, when PHS computer specialist Juliet Troche saw the abundance of unused computers in the warehouse, she decided to put them to good use.

A community in need

"I have spent vacation time in Tanquain, Mexico and it helped me to realize that there are a lot of people that are less fortunate than we are," Troche said. "Although the people down there do not have much they are still very generous. I just wanted to give back to that community."

In April, Troche attached a trailer to an SUV and filled it with computers, clothes, toys and school supplies to donate to the people of Tanquain and made the three-and-a-half day journey to Mexico. Once Troche arrived to the small town, she stayed there for five days installing the new computers in two schools, a library and a community center and teaching the community how to use them.

"The children were really excited and had huge smiles on their faces," Troche said. "Everyone was definitely appreciative and very grateful."

The 8,000 inhabitants of the small community are surrounded by poverty, with their main economic source being cattle and fruit, making it difficult for them to obtain the resources they need. While more than 75 percent of U.S. households are projected to own at least one computer in 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 2 percent in Mexico can be so lucky.

"I feel fortunate that I have the resources to do this," Troche said. "I am still in awe on how much we can do with technology. Just the fact that we can communicate electronically via e-mail and how easy it is to research online amazes me, and to give more opportunity to have those resources available is important."

Although it was a long trip to the small Mexican town, Troche knew what to expect, having driven down there two previous times.

"I have donated computers, toys and books to the same community before," Troche said. "They knew that I was going to try to get more computers in the future, but they didn't know when."

This time, Troche donated seven computers to the community. She purchased three HP computers on her own and brought four Dells from the surplus at the Lea Warehouse. She also plans to return to Tanquain in December with four more computers.

On several occasions other center investigators and staff members have approached the Surplus Department about possibly donating the old computers to community service agencies and approved third world sites, similar to Troche's charity event. However, one of the big issues was maintaining confidentiality with the hard drives in the computers, making it difficult to donate the computers to charity. What made Troches situation different was the fact that she has the technical skills to install new disks without costing the center, Hood said.

"It certainly isn't priority to get rid of computers in this fashion — our current method of disposal is working just fine," Hood said. "However, I do think this is a great example of an employee taking individual action to meet a social need. If other folks at the center have the technical qualifications and would like to do something similar then I would have no objections in their doing so."

Center confidentiality

To ensure confidentiality, the IT staff already removes and destroys all floppy disks, CDs and hard drives from the old computers before storing them in the warehouse. Because the IT staff removed the hard drives from the computers Troche chose to donate, she had to purchase and install new ones for the surplus computers. Troche also had to purchase and install software to convert the computers to Spanish and to add more memory. Luckily the price of new hard drives had dramatically decreased, so she was able to obtain one for $50.

Hood said another way IT ensures confidentiality is they can scrub the hard drives to muddle the data. This makes it so no information can be obtained from the previous user. The program takes several hours to run, making it difficult to use in charity situations.

Another issue that may arise when donating computers is the fact that the center cannot subsidize the proposed charity with funding or staff time. Typically this means that the person sponsoring the project must have the technical knowledge to install new disks and software, and they must do the work on their own time.

"Once those computers are sitting in a safe state from an informational security perspective, if somebody else wants to do something on their own time I think that's fine," Hood said. "I think we at the center can make that happen."

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Deactivate your old cell phone before recycling

After a December Center News brief calling for old cell phones to help victims of domestic violence, the center donated more than 120 phones. The phones were distributed to HopeLine, a partnership between the City of Seattle and Verizon Wireless.

Center staff know the phones were put to good use because some donors were surprised when they received bills for calls placed by their new owners. Prevent unexpected donation of your minutes by remembering to deactivate your old phone first.

Recycling steps

To recycle your old work or personal cell phone and accessories, deactivate the phone then place it in a plastic bag addressed to the Cell Phone Recycling Program, mail stop AD-221.

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