Community & Recycling
We get a ton of questions as to why we don’t sell used computers or computer components. It’s mostly as we don’t want to sell you someone else’s problems. There is a reason why the original owner has given us their machine to recycle. So we end up with quite a few laptops and computers that, with some work, could function again for someone for a little while longer, and a whole pile that are of no use to anyone. And here is what we do with them.
RE-USE
“From when we started offering IT Networking our enrollment has doubled and the recycled computers have helped us out each year as students get to practice a lot of skills they would’ve had to do virtually.”
Our newest partnership is with a teacher from Greystone Centennial Middle School. We give non-working machines to teachers like Mrs. Krefting, where she has created a ‘Make it or Break it’ club. We sent this teacher to her school with a minivan loaded up with circuit boards, cables, keysets and other electronics so that her students could reinvent them.
We have also given machines to St. Peter the Apostle for their IT class. The request was for machines that the students could take apart without fear of damaging a working machine. The goal is for the students to learn the inner components and how to take them apart and gain hands on experience.
RECYCLE
Both Spruce Grove and Stony Plain have recycling facilities that are available to the residents of the area. However, as part of our service, we will take care of your old machine by destroying your hard drive –which stores your data- and recycling it, your monitor and peripherals for you.
eCycle Solutions is our partner in recycling. They are a privately held, Canadian owned company with over 400 employees and 300 metric tonnes of daily processing capacity. It’s the most technologically advanced recycling plant in North America with environmentally friendly and secure asset recovery and recycling solutions. We have had over 20,000 kilograms of electronics recycled from our location since we opened in 2004.
DONATE
Even though we don’t sell used parts doesn’t mean that we don’t see the value of computers that still function. Motherboard/CPU/RAM combos are set aside and laptops that are in rough but usable condition are saved. Low income families, church donations, senior centers are all in need of a helping hand. When someone comes to us looking for an alternative solution to recycling, we donate these working machines – after we have given them some love – and find them a new home. They aren’t the fastest, they might not even look great - but they are appreciated.
In the end, technology is one of the only industries in which the end user will buy a newer device even though the old unit is still working. As much as 80% of electronic waste goes out with the trash, it isestimated that only about 20% is properly recycled. 300 million computers and 1 BILLION cell phones are put into production each year. This global mountain of waste is expected to continue growing 8% per year, indefinitely (BCC Research). Recycling, reusing and donating are just a few things we do to help make a difference.
