SB 20, the new state law that requires proper disposal of universal waste such as batteries and small electronic devices, inspired last month’s article on Page 12 also covering disposal and recycling of larger electronic waste, such as computers, monitors, printers, fax machines and prehistoric CRT televisions. Missing from the accompanying list of places to get more information was Jeanette Roache, who’s been in the computer recycling business for years.

The new law is wonderful for her business, “because we can take equipment that’s working or not working,” says Roache, president of the nonprofit San Diego-based Technology Training Foundation of America, available at computers2learnby.org. “We can send a truck, pick it up free of charge (conditions apply). The equipment that can be refurbished or cannibalized for parts, that’s what we do with the equipment. The equipment that doesn’t meet school placement standards, we work with certified recyclers and the equipment is recycled. It’s really helping schools and the environment. We refurbish to school standards and donate the equipment to schools free of charge.

“We get residuals off the recycling, pennies on the pound for CRTs. We also get recycling revenue from hard drives, printers, fax machines or even television sets. With the diminishing school budgets for technology, we have just in the last four years placed over 12,000 computers into schools.”

Her foundation operates statewide, but computers donated from San Diego stay in San Diego, she says.

Most of Roache’s clients are small businesses, but she works routinely for Sharp Hospital and one of the world's greatest producers of future e-waste, Sony Electronics based in Rancho Bernardo.