Computer Karma

On a more immediate note, what do we do with our cyber friends at the end of their useful lives?

(no, not you guys...I'm talking hardware).

UsedComputer.com is a nonprofit resource for information-seekers on how to buy, sell, or donate used computer equipment.

For computers that are definitely beyond their useful life (which is a shockingly short one), a number of computer companies offer at-your-door recycling programs. Typically, they then "de-manufacture" the items. What this means--for just like the funeral industry, the PC industry has its squeamish euphemisms--is that somebody knowledgeable will pick over the carcasses of your old desktops, monitors, and peripherals and return all useable components to service in other lives, from new computer parts to airplane parts.

Under a new initiative called Rethink, ebay and computer manufacturers are participating in efforts to return computer equipment to serviceable lives by many means. Then here is a representative smattering of individual companies' programs:

Apple, my new best friend, will recycle--for free--any brand of old desktop or laptop for you when you have purchased a new Apple.
Dell will pick up any brand of computer equipment for $15 per 50 pounds.
Hewlett Packard charges $13 and up for each piece. Both offer a range of options to donate up-to-date useful equipment to charitable organizations.

And what about those pesky floppies, CDs, and other software? GreenDisk will take those off your hands, and in fact they will also do what the big guys above are offering to do for similar prices, only you pay the shipping.

Once you're in the spirit, why stop with computers? Earth 911 is a comprehensive site of information on all kinds of tricky recycling questions. Or you can phone them at 1-800-CLEANUP.

And don't forget to join Freecycle, the national network of people-to-people freebies. Once you've registered (for free of course) you can post OFFERS and occasional WANTEDs (though too many of those are discouraged) to keep all kinds of perfectly good stuff out of landfills. To date, I have found homes for computer equipment, garden equipment, books, furniture, and even a gently-used kitty litter box (I know, TMI) through my local freecycle.