[XCSSA] Monitors recycled

[xcssa@xcssa.org]

Last Friday I finally got around to doing some much needed donating  
and recycling.  In particular, I brought two CRT monitors and a  
couple pieces of electronics down to Corona Visions.

http://www.coronavisions.com/

Corona Visions is near downtown.  My Navigation System led me right  
to it, but otherwise, it's a bit tricky because it is simply part of  
an enormous industrial building that takes up the whole block which  
has a few loading bays.  You won't go wrong parking in the most  
easterly loading bay.  It's completely unmarked as to street address  
or company name, but I did see some Corona Visions bumper stickers on  
the trucks parked there.  The manager told me they have a trouble  
with signs because the building is "historic."  Still, I think they  
could do better and promised to do so in the future.

One of the monitors was an old 19 inch Radius from the 1990's which  
had to weigh at least 50 pounds.  I was afraid they'd charge me a  
special premium price for recycling that, but they didn't.  But  
apparently the flat rate for recycling ALL CRT monitors is now $19  
and not $17.95 as listed on their webpage.  I paid the same $19  
charge for recycling the massive Radius as I paid for recycling a  
decidedly smaller 15 inch CRT monitor.  A tiny lady took the Radius  
from my hands as if it wasn't particularly heavy.

The justification for the charges is that Corona Visions actually  
handles the toxic materials as they are supposed to be handled rather  
than just putting them in the trash or sending the stuff for disposal  
in third world countries as some of the free recyclers do.

They aren't just limited to recycling computer electronics.  One of  
the pieces I brought them was an obsolete Jitter analyzer used on  
telecom systems 20 or so years ago.  (I got it on ebay for $20 only  
to discover it wasn't what I thought it was.  The shipping was  
another $25, so it wasn't worth shipping back.)  The charge for  
recycling electronics is 30 cents a pound.  They will recycle TV's  
also, but for the really big TV's the price does go way up.  They say  
that recycling rear-projection CRT type TV's is particularly  
difficult (and expensive) because of the 3 CRT tubes and cabinetry  
that needs to be taken apart.  I'm sure they'll love recycling my 165  
pound Sony 32 inch XBR100 TV when that finally breaks down.

The main problem for me is that it's a M-F type place, so it's hard  
to get down there as often as I'd like, but I will be making it a  
regular stop whenever I have time.  They do have a pickup service  
also, but I imagine that is mainly for businesses with even more junk  
than I have.

Charles