The first time for any new venture can be scary. What if nobody comes? What if too many people come? What if it rains?

The tally tells the tale: 10,550 pounds of outdated electronics. That’s a lot of computers, monitors, and printers picked up last weekend by a company called Creative Recycling Systems of Georgia.

Richard Golden, CRS’ vice-president for operations, came to observe the busy Saturday in the parking lot of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Peachtree City and was pleased with the results.

So was Bill Grabill, chair of the Lutherans’ environmental committee. "We did not know what level of response to expect with this effort, but we were very satisfied that the public responded so favorably to this one-day event."

The church sponsored this event with the Palmetto-based company because of their shared commitment to good stewardship of the environment, Grabill said.

"Computers and other electronics are often discarded when they still have a useful life and can be used by someone else,” he noted. “Any electronics that are at the end of their useful life can still be broken into components that can be recycled rather than thrown into the landfill."

That’s what CRS is all about, Golden added. For more than 11 years, his company has been recycling obsolete electronic equipment for thousands of businesses and government entities nationwide. The company processes a wide range of end-of-life and obsolete electronics equipment in an environmentally friendly manner.

The one-day event hosted by Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church collected:

· 10,550 lbs. of outdated electronics.
· 123 computers.
· 159 monitors.
· 79 printers.
· 11 scanners.
· 16 phones/fax machines.
· 14 laptops.

For a business wishing to relocate obsolete computers, the cost can run as high as $400 per unit. One of the biggest concerns that either corporate or families express is the compromise of hard drive information. A skilled technician can easily recover hard drive data even after the owner has erased or reformatted it.

CRS protects its customers by assuming ownership and responsibilities when it accepts a computer. In the case of nonprofits like a church, revenue from Golden’s resale of “sanitized” electronics is shared with the congregation.

According to The National Safety Council, more than 300 million personal computers will need to be recycled over the next four years. This rapid advancement in technology has created an alarming number of electronics being discarded, many of them containing hazardous substances like lead, mercury and cadmium.

With many of the nation’s landfills already filled to capacity, and with the hazardous materials that electronic devices contain, simply dropping obsolete electronics in the trash is not a viable solution. In fact, improperly discarded electronics account for more than half of the heavy metals found in our landfills – and can seep out to contaminate our air, water and soil.

“Having events like this is doing our part to protect our environment by providing citizens a means to properly recycle outdated electronics,” Golden said. His company has six locations and a customer base of over 1,000 national businesses – including Fortune 100 companies; local, state and federal government agencies; and nonprofit organizations.

While the church will surely provide another such opportunity, Grabill said, none has been planned at present. He urges residents to hold onto their relics and watch for announcements.