CETI program is an electronic recycling Mission
by Scott Fitzgerald, Southern Illinoisan
Saturday, March 15, 2008

Collaboration not competition is a different approach to success in the business world.

Kevin Clark, Argus Tong and Charlie San, who founded Community Electronics Technology Interface in 2006, decided from the start they needed assistance from other parties, namely Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where they had graduated with master's degrees in business.

They needed help also from people, businesses and agencies wishing to discard items like computers, word processors and anything else that constitutes electronic waste.

And what the nonprofit company does in return is save a heap of hazardous material from going into landfills in addition to refurbishing items that can be reused.

"People have been receptive. There is still a lot of education that needs to be done. We're all trying to be responsible to the environment. We're all into electronic recycling," Clark said recently.

The young men - along with Rob Gallegly, who lends his technological expertise - are surely not doing this with high profit motives in mind.

Each holds a different job to support himself.

"The revenue we bring in keeps the lights on and pays the bills. We're providing a service," Clark said.

If what they collect can't be reused, CETI has established a network of transporting parts and torn-down equipment to environmentally conscious agencies that find suitable markets for the materials.

The goal, Clark said, is to keep it out of the landfill, where seepage of toxic and hazardous materials such as cadmium found in chip resistors, infrared detectors and semiconductors or lead found in glass panels of computer monitors and printed circuit boards can eventually seep into water tables.

They work out of a warehouse in Carterville's central business district, surrounded by mounds of computer monitors, keyboards, computer peripheries such as cables and cords and just about anything else imaginable connected to electronic gadgetry.

If a business or agency is discarding a set of office computers, for example, CETI contacts Michael Coffman, an assistant professor of electronic systems technologies at SIUC.

"We're the technical support," Coffman said, pointing out space in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts where the School of Information Technology offers a class in computer maintenance. Students from the class will work on computers that usually come as a set from CETI.

"We cover installation, maintenance, repair and some basic design in our class. A high percentage of this is recyclable," Coffman said.

A few small fees are incurred in the process, such as $5 to wipe clean a monitor's hard drive or replace it.

Basically, all labor is done free of charge.

If a set of computers is refurbished, meaning the hard drive can be wiped and started anew, the units are donated to elderly groups, low-to-moderate-income families and marginally funded nonprofit organizations throughout the region.

CETI is working currently on installing a dozen computer monitors at the Bowen Gym Multicultural Center.

scott.fitzgerald@thesouthern.com

351-5076