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. Working monitors and computers are stacked on pallets, to be sold to resellers.
Some switches have mercury, which has to be disposed of properly.
Zalkin and Flynn say a key to making the effort work is educating business, government and consumers, raising awareness about potential risks of just dumping the equipment. They don't know where to go with it. We know how to handle it and where to go. Flynn said part of the problem is that people paid big bucks for the machines and don't want to just toss them out. If the state bans cathode ray tubes from landfills, Flynn expects others to get into the business, many of whom won't know what to do.