Even though Earth Week is underway and the calendar says it’s spring, at the University of Oregon it’s harvest time. In a drive dubbed the "Computer Harvest," the Office of Environmental Health and Safety (OEHS) is rounding up old computer monitors that no longer work or that are no longer needed and seeing that they are disposed of properly. Those pieces of equipment that are still operating will go to the state’s surplus property facility in Salem. "Dead" monitors will be shipped to an authorized recycling or de-manufacturing facility where the lead in the screens and other chemicals they contain can be removed safely and kept out of landfills, thus reducing the potentially enormous risks if the chemicals were to leak into the environment. "Members of the University of Oregon’s academic and administrative units organized a task force that surveyed other colleges about how their computer recycling programs work. We borrowed the best of those programs and put them into a uniquely Oregon approach to protect human health and the environment," says Nick Williams, OEHS environmental manager. "Our plan not only safely collects and properly disposes of discarded or dead equipment that is already on campus, but it also offers ongoing programs and awareness so campus employees will know in the future that monitors should be collected and not stored or simply thrown away." A surplus property truck will visit the UO campus on Tuesday,
May 22, to collect operational monitors. Pickups will be made at designated building loading docks and accumulation areas. All offices having computer equipment (such as monitors, processors, printers) to be picked up should send an e-mail message, with "Computer Harvest" in the subject line, to Connie French, <connie@oregon.uoregon.edu>, in advance for more information. All offices that have "dead" monitors can bring them to the loading docks and accumulation areas for May 22 collection or arrange to have them picked up earlier by e-mailing French for special arrangements.

—30—

#T-2143/DAY/sb