Finding a Home for Old Computers

If getting rid of clutter happens to be one of your New Year's resolutions, nothing will clear up a few cubic feet of space like getting an old computer, monitor or printer out the door.

In most cases, selling that antique hardware to a friend, co-worker or eBay user won't be an option -- computers lose their value faster than almost any other manufactured product in history. Just tossing them in the trash isn't a good idea either: Most computing gear contains such toxic components as lead, mercury and cadmium.

Instead, your options probably fall into the same two categories as a lot of other household junk: recycling or disposal.

The simplest choice is one of the computer-recycling programs that many PC vendors run. Gateway (www.gateway.tradeups.com), Hewlett-Packard (www.hp.com/recycle) and Dell (www.dell.com/recycle) all accept defunct computers regardless of brand. Just fill out an online form, pay a processing fee (usually $15 to $35) and pack up the old equipment. A shipper will show up at your door a few days later to whisk it away. In some cases, you can get a rebate toward the purchase of a new machine.

Equipment taken in through such recycling programs will be shipped to facilities built for breaking computers back down to their basic elements. Plastic, glass, steel, aluminum, copper, gold and silver -- all found inside desktops and laptops -- can be recovered and reused; the toxic leftovers will be safely disposed of.

This tear-down process has become a major industry. HP's recycling centers, for example, process 6.5 million pounds of dead computing a month.

Dell and HP also have partnerships with the National Cristina Foundation (www.cristina.org), which channels used equipment to people with disabilities and at-risk students. The Greenwich, Conn.-based foundation accepts only PCs with Pentium II-era or newer processors (or G3 or newer on the Mac side). Laptops must have displays measuring at least 13 inches diagonally. And any software loaded on a machine must come with some proof of purchase, such as the original CDs.

Broken hardware, however, may not be a problem for the foundation -- provided it can find a recipient or partner organization able to repair it, which the foundation can take two weeks to determine. NCF or one of its partners will then arrange for the removal of the donated equipment, or donors can drop it off at a designated location or ship it to a specified site.

Yet another disposal option for obsolete or deceased hardware is the electronics-recycling events that many local jurisdictions stage once or twice a year. Consult your city or county's Web site for details on any such programs.

Donating an old PC directly to a charity can seem a more generous act. But you want to make sure it still can handle mainstream tasks, lest you only hand off a computer-disposal problem.

Two local computer-user groups, the Capital PC User Group and Washington Apple Pi, have run their own recycling operations for many years, sending aged equipment to needy schools, charities and students.

The Capital PC User Group accepts donations of old equipment at its downtown Rockville office. No fee applies; details are available at the group's Web site (www.cpcug.net/reboot.asp).

Washington Apple Pi accepts Mac desktops or laptops running G3 or newer processors. No fee applies, but the group asks donors to contact it first, so that it can verify that the machine can find a welcoming home. See www.wap.org/about/donations.html for details.

Some charities don't accept computer donations at all, since they have found that they've gotten stuck with the bill for disposing of computer equipment that can't be put to any use. The local Salvation Army (www.salvationarmydcmetro.org), however, will accept old equipment of any vintage, which it will either sell in its thrift stores or use in after-school computer labs.