FIRST Electronics Recycling

[philip.xavier]

Hello,

Dean had mentioned something about FIRST Green, to recycle electronics. I'm thinking that you set up boxes for people to recycle cd's, ink cartridges, old cellphones, etc. A quick browse of the web shows a number of companies that offer this kind of thing, even as a fundraiser. Does anyone know of a reputable organization that does this kind of recycling? I couldn't find any mention of it outside of Dean's talk.

[synth3tk]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they're trying to setup a program through FIRST to do this, so that it will go directly to the cost of registration, or something like that.

There are other companies that will pay out cash with their programs, though.

[Grim Tuesday]

The program is called FirstGreen, and it also includes setting up energy audits, as far as I can remember. Does anyone know any more information about this though? I have trawled through various websites and can only find sparse bits of information about it, including almost none on the USFIRST website.

What little I can find:

• http://forums.usfirst.org/forumdisplay.php?f=1259
• A brief mention on http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/content.aspx?id=16211

If anyone can help with this, please do. Thanks!

[Chath Maral]

As far as I know, it's a new program that hasn't quite started yet...

And the information is to be released later on, unspecific of before or after build season...

[chmconkling]

the program is called FIRST e-Cycle and its only for teams located in Virginia this year and may be introduced next year

[Beth Sweet]

Team 116 is participating in the Virginia pilot of this program. If you are interested in working with us because you're outside of the Virginia area, shoot me an email or pm, and I can get you more info.

[pschre]

Team 806 has been using ThinkRecycle for over a year now. They take ink, toner and laser cartridges as well as cell phones. Pre-paid shipping, and we earn a little cash for each item on their long list of accepted products. I believe they also plant a tree, somewhere, for every 24 items sent in. The only downside is that we can only request payment after we reach the $25 mark or thereabouts, and at a few cents per item, we haven't yet.

So if you want to strike out and get your team involved in an e-cycling drive before FIRST institutes their own, you could start looking there.

[environeer01]

Something that our team is planning to use is http://www.gazelle.com/ which is another organization for the purpose of recycling technology. This site takes a wide variety of electronic devices, and we are planning to do a drive around the school to collect old electronics.

Hope this helps.

[Phoenix Spud]

There are also some "green" companies online that sell green products. You can register with them, and when someone buys a product and says that you referred them, you get a portion of the proceeds.

Hopefully FIRST will make the e-cycle program worldwide at some point for all us "international" teams.

[Alex Cormier]

So...

What happened?

I haven't found anything about it on the FIRST site anymore. I did previously and can't seem to find it now.

Must have taken it all away for a reason...

[Shmee]

We use Call2Recycle. They take cellphones and batteries, and maybe some more of the usual stuff. They've been great about working with us, particularly since we set up an agreement with them that the money from anything donated by FIRST participants or really anyone that we passed out collection bags with FIRST stickers on them goes to GeorgiaFIRST.

I'm sure that other states could probably set up something like this too...

At any rate, here's the website: http://www.call2recycle.org/home.php?c=1&w=1&r=Y