[freegeek-startup] question on recyclers - first roadblock

[Billings John]

>
> Even if we do not do business with this company, we will find a way to be
> triumphiant and help set the standards of not only good and proper ewaste
> management in the state of TN, but also have a great time spreading the
> gospel of technology. If we get community involvement, maybe recycling will
> help pay the bills, but may not be the only source of revenue.
>

Your correct, don't count on recycling as your only source of revenue, I
know FGP is very good about asking for a suggested donation for every item
that is donated.  I suggested to FREE GEEK Michiana recently that if they
are having trouble covering recycling fees, that you make that suggested
donation a mandatory donation.  Sure you will get less equipment, but I
think you will still get enough.  People are more willing to pay for
electronics recycling these days, especially if they are aware of the issues
surrounding ewaste.  Might be a good idea for little FREE GEEKs to have an
awarness initiative, and make sure you have brochures or flyers that explain
these issues.  Anyway just a thought.

In South Bend they are seriously thinking about other revenue streams, it's
apparent that recycling is not going to be a major one.  One idea is to take
sort of a staffing agency model, help volunteers find work and charge a fee
to the hiring company, similar to a staffing agency.  Another idea is
offering wireless Internet service, although that can be tricky, and of
course selling surplus equipment is always a good revenue getter.

Just creating a situation where people can volunteer, learn and work
together is a good thing, the whole point for me, next to not wasting
perfectly good neat gizmos.

Geekishly,
John


*matteo < matteo at freegeek.org>* wrote:
>
> On Tue, Aug 22, 2006 at 11:11:18AM -0700, Shawn Campbell said:
> > Have any of the other FG's dealt with a contractor / "recycler" known as
> 5r processors Ltd.? They have two of them here in TN and that was one of the
> contractors that we were planning to work with and still may.
> >
> > Here is part of the problem...
> >
> > When I was talking to one of the purchasing agents about what we are
> trying to do and why, we were on the same common ground. Then she said it
> sounds like we might be a competitor, and I explained to her that not only
> were we trying to keep ewaste out of the landfills, but to also reuse the
> technology. She was fine with that, and then went on to say that she serves
> on the TN board of solid waste, and that they were going to put 5 containers
> in our county for ewaste once some new laws go into effect next year.
> > I said great, but what are you going to do with all that equipment?
> >
> > She said that they are an end of life processor and their goal is to
> keep it out of the landfill. I asked, what about the still good functioning
> equipment though?
>
> Its true that alot of the equipment is probabley still functioning. It's
> also true that what is practical for reuse is a moving target. We (here
> in portland) are often upping the specks on what we give away to
> volunteers based on the amount of systems that we are recieving.
>
> > They really did seem to care about that, just as long as they were
> keeping the environment clean and get paid.
>
> My Question are they breaking down the materials or do they send there
> products to places like china. (there websight may say this but im not
> sure.)
>
> > I guess some people just don't get it...
>
> I beleave that even thow we do all this great recycling work, the most
> inportant thing we do is get people comfortable with computers.
>
> > I hope that we can still find a way to do business with them as they
> will buy our plastics, wire, processors, circuit boards, etc. and hopefully
> still leave us an avenue to even run a business. I mean there is enough room
> for us both, now it is just time to hunker down and show the public why they
> need to recycle their equipment with us.
> >
> > (end venting) and the update...
>
> It's great to be getting all the questions, and updates.
>
> Matteo
>
> _______________________________________________
> Making new Free Geeks outside of PDX mailing list
> http://lists.freegeek.org/mailman/listinfo/startup
>
>
>  ------------------------------
> Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com. Check it out.<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=42974/*http://www.yahoo.com/preview>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Making new Free Geeks outside of PDX mailing list
> http://lists.freegeek.org/mailman/listinfo/startup
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.freegeek.org/pipermail/startup/attachments/20060822/b81bccc3/attachment.htm