TAKING OUT TOMORROW'S TECHNOTRASH; THE PC WAY TO DEAL WITH OLD PCS ISN'T SO EASY FOR THE AVERAGE NERD.

Byline: Dawn C. Chmielewski Freedom News Service

Call Ross Crawford a new-age collector.

Every time he bought a new, faster computer, Crawford couldn't bring himself to dispose of the old one. So one by one, he stored them on shelves in the garage, at the back of the closet or in the corner of the den.

There they remained undisturbed, like so many high-tech dust bunnies, until Crawford and his wife began preparing for their move to a retirement home.

Suddenly he found himself scrambling to unload ``four or five'' Information Age relics.

It's a dilemma facing a growing number of consumers, with profound implications for us all.

The federal government classifies the cathode-ray tubes - or monitors - as hazardous waste, because the glass contains lead and the vacuum tube is filled with mercury, cadmium and phosphorus. Printed circuit boards in the PC and other devices also contain metals that flunk the federal government's hazardous-waste test.

Beyond environmental fears, there's the question of underground storage space.

One study from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh predicted that as many as 102 million PCs could glut landfills by the year 2002, with 30 million more languishing unused in warehouses. An estimated 2 million tons of high-tech debris will get dumped in the next year alone.

Instead of dumping, Crawford took what is becoming a popular approach, donating the old computers and software to Goodwill Industries. ``I said, `That's a great way to get computers to younger people who can't afford them.' ''

Goodwill Industries is among a few nonprofit computer recyclers that turn the digital era's detritus into usable, working hardware sold at affordable prices.

Goodwill Industries inspects each system, repairs them - often cannibalizing components from other donated machines to produce one functioning PC - and erases personal files from the hard drive.

In Southern California, Goodwill sells the refurbished systems at its Santa Ana Computer Works store at discounts to rival the local swap meet. With a PC powered by a 486 processor going for $399.95, or a dot-matrix printer for $25, Goodwill can't keep enough of the gear in stock.

``At this point, the demand is far surpassing the supply, far surpassing it,'' said Julie Dover, Goodwill's director of retail operations.

Like any other donation of clothing or household goods, you earn a tax-deduction. In Santa Ana, proceeds from the sale are used to support Goodwill's programs for the disabled.

Unlike other nonprofit recyclers, Goodwill Industries accepts technology that you thought of as merely a conversation piece or electronic curio - including dot-matrix printers or old PCs powered by 286 processors.

The components that don't work get sold for scrap or traded in for faster 486 processors.

That's an option you may not have if you prefer to donate your old computer to an area school.

Many schools are reluctant to accept an old PC that may break down, lack the power to run the current educational software or clash with the rest of the school's computers.

The Detwiler Foundation offers Californians a conduit for donating PCs to schools. During the last six years, it provided 32,000 computers to schools in the state.

It refurbishes the equipment, cleans and reassembles it and often upgrades it before shipping the computers to schools. Detwiler even warranties the work for a year - and provides technical support, said Diana Detwiler, executive director of the foundation based in La Jolla.

But Detwiler is a bit more selective about the equipment it accepts: it will take nothing older than a PC with a 486 microprocessor.

``We don't take them, because we find that schools really can't put them to really good use,'' Detwiler said. ``A lot of schools have moved beyond that, I'm happy to say.''

The need to dispose of old equipment has grown so large that even some for-profit computer recyclers, such as Horizon Technology of Laguna Hills, are willing to take computer castoffs.

President Kurt Johnson said his company works primarily for corporations that are retiring hundreds of computers at a time. It either buys the computers outright, refurbishes them and sells them to an exporter, or it acts as an intermediary, donating them to charity on the corporation's behalf.

Accepting an individual's old PCs or printers isn't a money-maker, Johnson said. ``It's more of a service to customers; it's not something we focus on.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Out with the old

Computer recyclers give new life to outdated hardware

Myung J. Chun/Daily News

(2) The short life of most computers, which become obsolete long before they wear out, is creating a growing problem: What can be done with all that useless hardware?

(3) no caption (Person on computer)