Here's some stuff that you may or may not find interesting and/or useful. We apologize in advance for boring you.

Q. Why do you need my name and address?
A. Because the State of California wants it. Right. Ok, so when you buy a new TV or computer monitor, you pay an extra tax that goes towards recycling your old unit. It's just like how the CRV (California Redemption Value) system works with cans and bottles, except in this case you don't get any money back, but then it doesn't cost you anything to recycle your discarded stuff. At least in theory. It's complicated. Anyway, we get our cut of that revenue for recycling the TVs and display devices you bring to us. That's how we pay the bills.

The State would like to make sure it is only paying for the disposal of CRTs that were sold (and therefore taxed) in the State of California. And so it requires us to log your name and address so that we can be sure you're a California resident and everything is on the up & up.

Now, if you have 5 or more display devices, we're going to need your phone number as well. The State, being broke, is really paranoid these days about paying out fraudulent claims. Heck, it's worried about paying off legitimate claims for that matter, but that's a story for another day. Anyway, they might call you. And ask you if you recycled so many monitors on such & such date, etc. Kind of annoying. Sorry. Please excuse us if we get a factoid off by a digit or letter or two, like a misspelled name, or a munged address, or a slightly off count. Sometimes the paper logs get soiled, crumpled, wet, run over by the forklift, or suffer from nothing other than poor handwriting. We try our best.

If you do get a call from the State, please tell them we would like our money already. They'll know what you're talking about.

Oh, we don't add your information to any mailing list. It is used only for the above described verification process. We wouldn't want anyone selling our information to someone else, and we respect you in that way as well.

Q. What happens to my stuff after I drive off?
A. We get to work. Computers are either refurbished (if they're "current"), shredded (if they're "obsolete"), or added to our computer history archive (if it's ancient, quaint, or downright cool). And by shred, we mean we manually take apart a computer part by part. We then generate a pile of each of: plastic, metal, motherboards, memory, CPUs, adaptor cards, hard drives, floppy drives, optical (CD, DVD) drives, wire, power supplies, and miscellaneous (speakers, fans, etc.) Everything is sorted into individual bins and sold as scrap at pennies by the pound. That material meets up with other similar material, and all of it is stuffed in large cargo containers and shipped off to factories all around the world, probably most in China, probably none in the U.S., because we foolishly outsourced a critical portion of our manufacturing base, but again, that's a rant for another day. The good news is that your old stuff becomes the new iPhone you'll buy next year. The circle of life, in digital.

Monitors and TVs, too much hassle. We ship these off to a plant in San Jose that tears down the monitors into their constituent parts (much as described above) and then those raw materials make it into your new Christmas presents.

We scrap all appliances that we take in down to the motor, ripping out every last bit and throwing the pieces into sorted bins for metal reclamation. It's a lot of work. It's why we charge a fee for the service. Someone has to do it. You're welcome.

Select other items like printers, office equipment, general household items, and stuff that's otherwise not cumbersome and unprofitable to fuss with is torn asunder and the resultant material sorted into bins, etc.

The bottom line: Virtually 100% of what comes into e-Cycle is recycled. We generate very little trash, which is basically what gets thrown in our bathroom waste basket or flushed down the toilet.

We want to emphasize one thing. It is this: Frugality is a mindset. It's a way of life. It's a virtue. It's what we practice. It is the e-Cycle way.

Q. Do you take ... ?
A. Probably, yes. Anything that runs on electrons and then some. Whether you plug it in the wall or plug batteries into it, we take it.

Speaking of batteries, we will take small amounts, and by that we mean a handful or so, but please, please, take your buckets to Radio Shack. They will accept those for free and apparently they have some recycling scheme in place. I think. I hope. Someone should ask them. Anyway, they take them, so...there ya go.

On the other hand, we do take rechargeable batteries of all kinds: NiCads, NIMHs, Lion...oops, sorry, nerd speak. I'm talking about your old rechargable batteries for your cell phone, your cordless phone, your laptop, your digital camera, etc. We'll take those.

So yeah, anything electronic or electrical. Bring it.

Also, got scrap plastic or metals cluttering up the place? We'll take it. Bring it here. We have large containers for recycling all kinds of plastic and metals. All this stuff will go back into new products and things.

Q. Don't you guys just dump this crap in rivers in China?
A. We can guarantee you this: we only deal with companies within the State of California. All of our stuff gets dispersed into local processing and refining operations. It basically stays local. The refined or raw material does end up in some far off land (it could be here in the U.S., but again, I digress) but at that point it is valuable raw material, not junk, so the prospect of it ending up as someone else's pollution problem is not likely. The Chinese are buying this stuff from us. It's not like they're just letting their country be one big landfill. They need this material to build new products to keep Walmart shelves stocked.

Also, there are international treaties in place which are effective to some degree (how much I can't say, as I haven't researched it) at preventing illegal dumping of e-waste. Look, let's be square: does it happen? Yes, I'm sure of it. There's always going to be the rotten scoundrel who is only after the almighty dollar (soon renminbi) and will "look the other way". I think the problem has lessened, but it still goes on as 60 Minutes documents.

Or does it? Let's examine that story. I just watched it. I'm not surprised that 60 Minutes chose to sensationalize the story. Their journalistic standards have long since evaporated away, and all they do now is glorified puff pieces. Anyway, that aside, the ambush of the Executive Recycling CEO, as bad a spokesperson as he is, was unfair and, truly, based on facts that are at best dubious, in my opinion. Look, the government tries to make itself look like it's spending our tax dollars appropriately by periodically making examples of various businesses that are just trying to turn a fair buck.

Let's look at the core accusation: shipping complete CRTs (Cathode Ray Tubes) to Hong Kong. First of all, why is this illegal? I'm not really sure, but this is more a rhetorical question anyway. The whole thing is a farce because, had Executive Recycling crushed the CRTs into glass, then it would not have been illegal to ship them to Hong Kong in that condition (as broken glass). So what's the difference? I'm sure there was some sufficiently appropriate reason to make this distinction, but in the end, the glass gets to China, where the manufacturing is. If we encouraged more manufacturing here in the U.S., we might alleviate some of these issues, but again, there I go...

In reality, all this company is really guilty of is inefficiency. They could've sent the CRTs crushed and gotten more CRT glass in there. However, the customer in Hong Kong may have wanted them whole for a reason. Whatever, the whole thing stinks. There is no real crime here. Certainly nothing worth smearing this guy's name and business over.

Other elements of this story bug me as well. I'll be the first to admit, the pollution situation in that Chinese town where they do the dismantling and stuff is a terrible issue, but that's a Chinese issue. The Chinese know what's going on. They could put a stop to it if they wanted. The reality is, your fancy cell phone with the built-in video camera and GPS and wireless internet wouldn't be so cheap if that pollution wasn't happening. So who's to blame here, hmmmm? I know, I know, cheap shot. But the thing that really reeks is the stupid theatrics the 60 Minutes producers put on for the camera. Maybe the reason they got attacked in that scrapyard is because the owners saw that a bunch of uninvited trespassers were on their damn property! What would you do if you went outside and a bunch of weirdos with cameras were poking around the junk all over your backyard? I mean, really.

Anyway, we know this: e-Cycle doesn't export CRTs, and the companies to which we send our CRTs definitely dismantle and crush them right here in the Bay Area because I've seen their plants and processes firsthand and I know the owners of those plants.

I don't know about the other guy, but you can trust us at e-Cycle.

Q. Do you have any other opinions?
A. Yes, but I'll be writing about them in other blog postings. I'm sure I've covered just about all the usual stuff. I'll add to this as common queries come calling.

Remember: first you reduce, then you re-use, then (and only then), you recycle.

Thanks for your time, and your old stuff!