Monthly Archives: June 2014

Computer Composting (Financial Post, October 1995) "I don't know much about computers, but one thing I do know is how to smash them up," says Adam Freedman, introducing his father's computer recycling business Hi Tech Recycling. The idea to recycle unusable computer parts came to Adam's father, Max Freedman as a result of his once-a-week volunteer work in a Toronto-based project that refurbishes outdated PCs for people who need retraining. "This first year I put in money to keep going, the second year we broke even." This year, with the business savvy of his son who is actually a business consultant, Freedman says he might even make money and hire some help. Max who retired from a career in electronics, operates out of an industrial building in Toronto. The warehouse is littered with boxes of circuit boards, precision electric motors, old hand-drives and tape units. On one side are the hulking ports of old mainframes and minicomputers. Nearby is a pile of old monitors.

Discarded computers hazardous in landfill (Globe and Mail, October 10, 2001) If not recycled, substances in old monitors and circuits end up fouling air and water Eli Freedman has a good view of where old computers are sent to die. He helps operate one of Canada's largest recyclers of used computer equipment, trying to salvage the scrap metals they contain and prevent their hazardous components from polluting the environment. Every work day, about 300 to 500 computers get ripped apart at his Toronto company to recover their metals, such as copper, aluminum and silver, worth from $1.50 to $2.50 per junked machine. "Basically, we strip them," said Mr. Freedman, vice-president of Hi-Tech Recycling (Canada) Ltd. "It's intense, manual labour."