University of New Hampshire
OP-20: Electronic Waste Recycling Program

All employee electronic equipment collected through the Safe Electronic Equipment Disposal (SEED) program is transferred to LifeSpan, a national e-waste recycling firm. The nearest location is an hour to the south in Boston, MA. LifeSpan works exclusively with EPA-registered and regulation-compliant partners to maintain the highest standards of environmental protection and ethical business practices. At UNH, workers' basic safety is addressed in two primary ways. First, SEED collection staff do not dismantle electronic equipment. Rather, they merely collect it. Second, all equipment must be registered for drop-off and is verified upon being received to ensure that no radioactive or hazardous materials are brought in (such materials are instead handled by USNH Surplus). LifeSpan states that environmental standards are met by complying with all federal, state, and local environmental regulations. Students during move-out days at the end of the spring semester can participate in Trash-2-Treasure. Starting in spring 2011 and in an effort to reduce UNH’s impact on landfills, the UNH Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) will be collecting all of the stuff that students throw away each year, storing it all over the summer, and then holding a large 3-day yard sale during move-in weekend to sell it all back to students. The goal is to create a sustainable program where we will be able to run the program next year with the money we make at the yard sale this year, and so on, for years to come: http://unh.edu/trash2treasure/index.html

The SEED program began its first collection day with great success on March 5, 2010. The program includes the wiping of hard drive/disks and tapes to help University community members comply with the USNH System Access Policy on equipment with data storage capability. This program provides for the disposal of surplus equipment containing circuit boards such as computers, monitors, printers, peripherals, scientific equipment and audio-visual equipment. Materials are collected monthly at an on-campus drop-off site (1 Leavitt Lane).

Students during move-out days at the end of the spring semester can participate in Trash-2-Treasure. Starting in spring 2011 and in an effort to reduce UNH’s impact on landfills, the UNH Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) will be collecting all of the stuff that students throw away each year, storing it all over the summer, and then holding a large 3-day yard sale during move-in weekend to sell it all back to students. The goal is to create a sustainable program where we will be able to run the program next year with the money we make at the yard sale this year, and so on, for years to come: http://unh.edu/trash2treasure/index.html. Trash-2-Treasure coincides with UNH-RENU through which students can donate to local shelters clothing and non-perishable food they no longer need: http://www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/biodiv_ed/renu.html

The SEED program is only for UNH employees. Trash-2-Treasure and UNH-RENU are only for UNH students.