Computer Castoffs: What Can You Do with All Those Old PCs? (Community Banking) (2003)

Banking, by repute, is a nice, clean-hands way of earning a living. Yet did you know that you, and nearly everyone in banking, deals in toxic wastes? The downside to the ongoing computer revolution is the huge amount of relatively young equipment that progress steadily leaves behind. In some cases, there's little to do with an outdated PC but move it from your desk to the bank's basement, and thence to the scrap heap. Except it's not that simple. Retired bank computers pose security, customer privacy, and even environmental risks. Monitors have been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as hazardous waste, says Lauren Roman, vice-president, marketing, United Recycling Services, Inc., West Chicago, Ill., www.unitedrecycling.com. United is part of a mammoth industry that has grown up around obsolete electronics. The international problem goes beyond monitors. Virtually every aspect of that PC on your desk represents poison to the groundwater supply and more, if not properly handled. (To learn more about environmental issues, see www.epa.gov/epr/products/computers.html.) just because you sell it to a scrap guy doesn't mean you can't be liable, says Dave Bernstein, president and CEO, AnythingIT, a Fort Lee, N.J., firm specializing in retiring and recycling electronic equipment. Yet used PCs and related equipment also represent opportunities, when handled properly. And some forward-thinking banks have found ways to better deal with Silicon Valley Obsolescence Syndrome. This month, Pass the Aspirin went to community bankers to ask how they handle their old equipment. We also checked with regulators, representatives from two recycling firms, and a noted national charity dealing with donated computers. In a departure from our usual style, the bulk of the excerpts from their answers will be presented roundtable style. TODAY'S MIRACLE, TOMORROW'S DOORSTOP What does your bank do with these machines--sell them, offer them to employees, donate them, or trash them? Eric Malmgren, information systems officer, Bank of Lancaster, $261 million-assets, Kilmarnock, Va. The Information Systems Department has sold, donated, and of PCs from time to time. When I say disposed of, I mean we've just taken them out of circulation. We have not actually thrown them in a dumpster. They are stored at my location until I find a recycler to take them so they don't wind up in a landfill. John C. Klumpp, operations and technology manager, FNB Corp., $7 billion-assets, Naples, Fla. We take several approaches. Newer systems are generally being purchased in areas where newer technology is required to support new functionality. PCs that are displaced as a result of higher performance demands are first re-deployed to users with less demanding requirements. Second, FNB maintains a four-generation PC support model. (We assume an approximate nine-month PC generation cycle, so this equates to 36 months.) Our experience is that when a system surpasses four generations, the cost of continuing support and repair, as well as declining user productivity, outweighs the cost of replacement.) When the equipment reaches this phase, it is retired. The preference upon retirement has been donating the equipment, although I've found that if it is not cost effective for FNB to provide ongoing support for aged equipment, it is generally not cost efficient for anyone else to do so either. Alan K. Tognazzini, senior vice-president and chief information officer, Coast National Bank, $121.3 million-assets, San Luis Obispo, Calif. At present, we are replacing motherboards and increasing the memory. We can do this for the $300 to $400 dollar range, but with the price of hardware coming down so low, we may have to rethink this. Clarence Jones, chairman, president, and CEO, Farmers & Merchants State Bank, $306 million-assets, Boise, Idaho. …