NEW YORK - A vast glut of obsolete computer equipment was all but inevitable in an era in which a common cliche is that your new computer is outdated by the time you get it home.
Now IBM Corp., one of the world's biggest computer makers, hopes to help solve a problem some environmentalists see as one of the biggest solid waste issues to emerge in decades.
Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM on Tuesday is starting a program aimed specifically at individual consumers and small business owners, two sizable groups of computer users that up to now have struggled to find ways to rid themselves of unwanted computer hardware.
For a fee of $29.99, IBM will accept all kinds of PC parts through its IBM PC Recycling Service. The fee includes shipping costs, so consumers need only to box the equipment and send it by United Parcel Service to Envirocycle, a Hallstead, Pa., recycling firm. Consumers can sign up for IBM's program at the time of purchase or by contacting IBM.
''At IBM, we recognize as well as anyone else that advances in technology have unfolded at a breathtaking pace. As a result of the advancement in technology, there has been an increase in the amount of computer equipment that is either obsolete or that no one wants,'' said Wayne Balta, IBM's director of corporate environmental affairs.
Indeed, a recent study by the National Safety Council's Environmental Health Center estimated that 20.6 million personal computers became obsolete in the U.S. in 1998, but only 11 percent, or 2.3 million of those PCs, were recycled. Moreover, the NSC estimates that 315 million additional computers will become outdated by 2004.
For years, most of the unwanted personal computer equipment in this country has gathered dust in attics and garages.
On a larger scale, the industry's solution has been to ship much of the unwanted and environmentally dangerous parts to China, where weak environmental laws allow for a cheap but hazardous method of disposal.
With the volume of obsolete equipment in the United States rapidly growing, environmentalists are becoming increasingly concerned that more and more of the parts - all of them laced with toxic chemicals - will accidentally wind up in public landfills not suited to the disposal of contaminated materials. Or worse, the equipment could wind up in illegal dumps.
While the outside shell of a computer monitor and hard drive usually can be used again, most of the inner parts must be replaced either because they're worn out or outdated. And it's those inner parts that contain most of the hazardous materials, including lead, mercury and cadmium.
Balta said IBM's service will allow the equipment to either be recycled ''in an environmentally responsible way,'' or donated to a worthy cause if the equipment still works.
Usable equipment will be donated to computer-needy organizations, such job training and family services centers, through a nonprofit organization called Gifts in Kind International.
IBM is billing the plan as a 'no strings attached' service because IBM will accept any brand of unwanted equipment, and no purchase is required. Most recycling programs operated by smaller computer retailers are conditioned on so-called trade-in policies, in which unwanted equipment is removed only if the consumer buys new equipment.
IBM's program also appears to be the first aimed at individual consumers and small businesses.
''The disposal of 'dead computers' is likely to be the next big solid waste challenge that our nation will have to deal with,'' said Jeremiah Baumann, environmental health advocate for U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Washington.
Massachusetts is a notable exception, having enacted in March the nation's first ban on personal disposal of computer screens, television sets and other glass picture tubes in landfills or incinerators.
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On the Net:
IBM: http://www.ibm.com
Envirocycle: http://www.recycle.net/recycle/trade/envcycle.html
U.S. Public Interest Group: http://www.pirg.org