The EPA's experiment underscored that the economics of electronic recycling will be a challenge. The agency noted, though, that some of the costs were skewed by such things as transportation for a pilot project. One thing that makes it work is a ready and inexpensive labor supply. Seven of 10 workers at the warehouse are inmates from a nearby Hillsborough work-release center. Those that no longer work are taken apart for recycling and proper disposal, with the customer getting any fees collected.
Computers contain metals such as gold, silver and copper that in theory can be recycled.
Cardboard boxes are filled with circuit boards. The sound of power tools pierces the air, as computers are taken apart in minutes. Metal crashes on metal as a computer case is thrown into a bin. Chips from pay phones are pried from circuit boards and put in boxes. The tubes from monitors that don't work are shipped to a smelter in Missouri.