E-cycling the obsolete

East County’s only computer recycling center opens its doors

By Kari Hastings

The Sandy Post, Nov 22, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Shanda Tice / for the post

From left, Gresham Councilor Paul Warr-King, center director Ken Manske, and center volunteers Trish and Ray Norman display a few of the 150 computers they’ve already received at the Computer Recycling and Educational Center on Monday, Nov. 13.

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Ken Manske knows an opportunity when he sees one. A chance meeting with a stranger at a Gresham cartridge store was no different. It has led to the first non-profit computer recycling center in Gresham, one that will funnel proceeds back into the community through the Gresham Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Manske, who owns a small ad agency and runs it out of his home, was buying a new ink cartridge for his printer about a year ago when he bumped into Ray Norman. The two began talking about computer waste, or “e-waste.”

“It really bothered me that printers are getting so cheap now that some people, instead of buying a new ink cartridge, they’ll just throw their old printer out and buy a new one every time they run out of ink,” Manske said. “It’s so ridiculous, and I just thought, ‘What happens to all those old printers?’ ”

Norman told Manske he used to dismantle old computers and printers at an e-waste operation in the small Pennsylvania town where he lived before moving here.

“I guess that was a light bulb for me,” Manske said. “I started thinking about how we could do that here.”

The two men kept in touch. On Thursday, Nov. 16, after eight months and lots of planning and legwork, the Computer Recycling and Educational Center opened at 2020 E. Powell Blvd. in Gresham. The center is the only of its kind in the East Metro Area; the next closest is in Southeast Portland.

“We’re hoping this will give the people in Sandy a little closer option than going into Southeast Portland,” said receptionist Laura Myers.

About 70 percent of the heavy metals found in U.S. landfills comes from discarded electronics, according to 2002 statistics compiled by the Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based network of activists focused on stemming the tide of toxic waste worldwide. Many e-waste products contain toxic substances, including lead, cadmium, mercury and plastics.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 220 million tons of old computers and other hardware are trashed in the United States every year, and the majority of it ends up in landfills. The toxins can contaminate soil and groundwater.

At the new e-waste recycling center, Norman, his wife Trish, and a team of about 30 volunteers are hoping residents and businesses will think of them when it comes time to get rid of obsolete technology.

Except for a $12 fee to take monitors, all other drop-offs are donation only. The suggested donation for fax machines and scanners, for example, is $5.

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