Disposal of Computer-Electronic Equipment

David S. O’Brien, Director

Please advise all staff that electronic equipment and components MUST NOT be placed in any refuse dumpster, trash compactor or roll-off container. These materials generally contain significant quantities of lead, heavy metals, and other toxic material and are banned from landfill disposal. Severe legal and environmental consequences can result from improper disposal.

Old UF-owned computers and electronic devices are controlled materials, whether decaled or not, and must be disposed through the UF Surplus Property Office/Warehouse. This group of items includes computer/electronic equipment (CPU’s, printers, scanners, external drives, etc.), Cathode Ray Tube devices (TV’s, monitors, oscilloscopes, etc.), and their components (power supplies, circuit boards, chips, cables, etc.) The UF Property Survey Form serves as a formal tracking and accountability tool for the disposal.

Procedures are simple:

1. Departments complete a Property Survey Request Form (available at http://www.fa.ufl.edu/ups/) identifying the individual decaled items, components or bulk electronic waste to be disposed and mail the form to University Property Services, PO Box 115300, 116 Elmore Hall.
2. After processing the survey form, Property Services will contact the department and pick up or receive the items for disposal. The surveyed items will then be assigned to another UF department or public agency for continued use, sold via local bid, or transferred to a contracted environmental recycling firm.

Finance and Accounting pays the costs of the disposal program and retains any revenues to help offset the cost of the program.

Similar arrangements apply to the disposal of old rechargeable batteries (Ni-Cads), UPS devices, mercury/silver/lithium batteries, and fluorescent tubes that are recovered and recycled through the Environmental Health and Safety Division (392-8400).

Please see the following links for additional information:

• General Waste Disposal/Recycling Guidelines:http://www.ppd.ufl.edu/g rounds-refuse.html
• Hazardous Materials Management:http://www.ehs.ufl.edu/HMM/d efault.asp
• UF Property Services:http://fa.ufl.edu/ups/

For questions concerning UF’s Solid Waste or Recycling programs, please contact Solid Waste Coordinator Al Krause at 392-7396 or mailto:aakrause@ufl.edu