Goodwill, Dell, city of Austin Launch Computer Recycling Service

Public-private partnership introduces Austin Computer Recycling Project with curbside pickup.

Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, Dell and the city of Austin have introduced the Austin Computer Recycling Project (ACRP), the first comprehensive computer recovery, reuse and recycling opportunity featuring curbside collection of unwanted computers for Austin residents. The pilot program offers drop-off and curbside pick-up recycling options for unwanted computers, is the only ongoing curbside computer pick-up in Texas and one of only a few in the United States.

The public-private partnership leverages the service infrastructure of a municipality, the refurbishment, reuse and recycling expertise of a nonprofit and the experience and resources of a technology company to offer a proactive, community-based solution to environmentally responsible computer disposal.

Starting Oct. 25, Austin residents will be able to call 1-866-48RE-USE (866-487-3873) to learn about drop-off options or to schedule convenient curbside pick-up of their unwanted computers and computer equipment. Central Texas residents outside the Austin city limits can also participate in the program by dropping off their unwanted computers at any of the 37 Goodwill locations in Central Texas.

"Residents of Austin are technology-savvy and environmentally-conscious, so committing to this pilot program made sense," Austin Mayor Will Wynn says. "By partnering with Goodwill and Dell, the city of Austin continues to break new ground with sustainable municipal projects that make our community a great place to live."

Austin's Solid Waste Services Department's customer service call center will schedule a pick-up day for Austin residents who call to request curbside service. Goodwill will pick up the computer equipment, whose ownership passes to Goodwill once it is collected. After pick up, Goodwill will mail a notice to the customer for a $10 obligation, to help meet the cost of the curbside service.

Customers are responsible for removing their data from hard drives and other storage media before collection. The computer equipment will be sorted for reuse or recycling and equipment that meets the required functionality standards will be refurbished and resold at Goodwill's Computer Works retail store. Proceeds from these sales will help provide job-related services for people with barriers to employment.

A survey conducted by the city of Austin found that more than one-third of respondents had computers for disposal and 84 percent of respondents said that giving their computer to charity was their preferred disposal option.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for the Austin community to rally around this effort between private and public partners for e-waste solutions," Jerry Davis, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, says. "Our environment can be improved and people can be put to work through this effort."

Goodwill's Computer Works program currently receives approximately 20,000 systems per year. The refurbishment and reselling of these systems helps provide the resources for job-related services that annually helps approximately 7,400 Austin-area residents with barriers to employment. Goodwill expects computer donations to increase by 50 percent through this pilot program.

Dell partners with government, industry and citizen-based organizations to find ways to improve environmental performance and share knowledge. This pilot program is the latest in a series of Dell environmental initiatives to increase recycling participation rates and consumer awareness of the need to responsibly recycle computers.

"Dell remains committed to making computer recycling easy and affordable for consumers and this pilot will help do that," Pat Nathan, Dell's director of sustainable business, says. "The three project partners designed this pilot to be scalable so it can serve as a model other communities may voluntarily adopt."

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At an event at Goodwill's new Computer Works facility, executives from the three partner organizations met with Austin community leaders to discuss how this pilot donation project will keep computers out of landfills while helping to provide job-related services in Central Texas. The new facility is expected to open Nov. 22.

Additional ACRP details, including Goodwill drop-off locations and instructions, are available at www.computerrecyclingproject.com.

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