Recycling Drive Sends Computers to Those in Need

By CASEY MCNERTHNEYP-I REPORTER
Christine Henn spent all day Friday trying to get rid of her old TV. She went to Value Village, Goodwill, Thriftco -- but every place Henn tried to leave it, she was got the same answer.
Sorry. Too many metals and chemicals in that thing. Dispose of it elsewhere.

Paul Wagner heaves a mid-'90s Apple monitor into a bin during a daylong electronics recycling drive operated by EarthCorps and InterConnection at Magnuson Park on Sunday. Wagner works for InterConnection, a non-profit that provides refurbished computers to underserved communities locally and abroad. At left is Max Keeler, a 16-year-old volunteer from Seattle Academy.
After a day driving around, Henn still was stuck.
"It seems everyone has three TVs in their home," said the 40-year-old Seattle resident. "Now I know why I see them sitting on the street corners."
Her TV -- and hundreds of others -- might have ended up on a street corner had it not been for an annual recycling drive Sunday at Magnuson Park.
A pair of non-profits -- EarthCorps and InterConnection -- accepted computers, monitors, TVs and other electronics for a small fee, promising that the now obsolete gadgets wouldn't damage the environment.
They started at 9 a.m. Sunday, and by 2 p.m. old computers and electronics filled two-thirds of a semi-truck.
"And this is just one day," said EarthCorps Executive Director Steve Dubiel. "This is a simple way for people to help the Earth without working outside in the rain."
Many who left their old computers, such as Seattle resident Rob Kosin, didn't realize how much the used goods could help.