Clermont 20/20 held its annual computer recycling drive at the Miami Township Civic Center Saturday.

“Today’s event was really successful,” Clermont 20/20 recycling coordinator Barb Dardy said. “This is a terrific opportunity for residents and businesses to dispose of computer components.”

The Cincinnati Computer Co-operative collected about 58 pieces of equipment that will either be refurbished for schools, non-profit organizations and low-income families or the components will be de-manufactured in the United States.


“We have a very green mission in the way we handle materials,” CCC President and cofounder Walt Fischer said. “We ensure that the companies that do our de-manufacturing perform the work properly in the United States.”

Fischer said often computer components are sent overseas where workers are paid low wages to handle dangerous metals and chemicals to separate out the valuable components. The CCC only contracts with companies that operate within the United States. CCC also ensures that all hard drives are properly cleaned before they are reused or de-manufactured.

CCC usually charges for disposal of monitors, printers, and other non-essential components, however, the charge is waived at their collection events.

“There is very little of value in the monitors and other components and most de-manufacturing facilities will charge us to take them,” Fischer said. “We do this to get the computers.”

Fischer said CCC is a self-sustaining non-profit organization that does not actively seek grant funding. They have been in operation since 2002 and have kept over 2 million pounds of computer equipment out of the landfill since they began keeping records.

The organization has only one paid employee, Fischer. The remaining work is completely by volunteers. Fischer said CCC averages about 40 volunteers each Saturday.

“We have a diverse group of people each week, from geeks that want to work on computers to tree-huggers that want to keep equipment out of the landfill,” Fischer said.

The company operates from a warehouse just off of Springfield Pike in Woodlawn where it collects equipment each Wednesday and Saturday. Computers with at least a Pentium 4 processor are paired with hard drives of at least 40 gigabytes and redistributed. All other equipment is de-manufactured.

Dardy said Clermont 20/20 is glad to offer the recycling service and to be able to partner with Miami Township.

“We really appreciate Miami Township hosting this event,” Dardy said.