For Additional Information Contact:
Kurt Hunter
Recycling/Hazardous Materials Specialist,
Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority
831-755-1300 (office)
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Lynn Banks
Lynn Banks Marketing Consulting
754-0806 (W); 320-3127 (cell)
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SALINAS VALLEY SOLID WASTE AUTHORITY TO DONATE RECYCLED COMPUTERS TO AREA YOUTHS
SALINAS, Nov. 15, 2001 - It may be a "loss" for the Salinas Valley landfills, but score it as a big victory for some of Salinas' disadvantaged youths.
In a ceremony set for 11 a.m. Friday (Nov. 16), the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority (SVSWA) - ushering in its electronics recycling program - will be presenting 25 refurbished computers to the Boys and Girls Club of the Salinas Valley. The Boys and Girls Club - site of Friday's ceremony - will then identify needy area families, who otherwise may not be able to bring a computer into the home, and donate the machines to them.
"This aids us in helping more kids enter the technology world that we're all a part of in today's environment," said Bernie Halprin, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of the Salinas Valley. "These are functional computers that will help the children of families where there's a real need."
With alarming predictions of as many as 315 million obsolete computers being tossed into the world's landfills by 2005, the State of California and organizations
such as the SVSWA have joined forces to help solve the e-waste problem. Recently, the SVSWA received a $300,000 grant from the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) to promote electronics recycling and help alleviate the Salinas Valley's landfills of obsolete computer equipment. Friday's computer donation is an example of the type of programs the SVSWA will be initiating in its effort to defeat e-waste.
The three SVSWA landfills (Crazy Horse, Johnson Canyon & Jolon Road) and the Madison Lane Transfer Station (1104 Madison Lane, Salinas), have begun accepting computer systems, monitors and television sets of any age, working or not. Computers are accepted free of charge and TV sets and computer monitors are a $15 charge.
Computers turned into the landfills will be sent to the Alameda County Computer Resource Center in Oakland for reprocessing. The Resource Center then returns the computers to the SVSWA for redistribution in the community.
"We hope we're doing our part to bridge the 'Technological Divide'," said Kurt Hunter, Recycling/Hazardous Materials Specialist for the SVSWA. "These are computers that once could have wound up in the landfill, and now they'll land in the homes of families whose children can learn to use and master them. Without a computer in the home, children cannot learn the skills that will make them able to compete in school and in the workplace."
Additional information regarding e-waste recycling can be obtained by calling the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority at 755-1300.
The Authority, formed in 1997, is a joint powers agency made up of the cities of Gonzales, Greenfield, King City, Salinas & Soledad as well as the eastern half of unincorporated Monterey County. They promote the environmental health of the Salinas Valley through planning, public education and management of an innovative solid waste system. The Authority can be reached at 755-1300 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday.
