Inmates at a new federal prison in California will soon be able to join the high-tech economy via the burgeoning field of electronics recycling.
The U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater, Calif., which is set to open this quarter, will employ approximately 350 prisoners in the handling of PCs, monitors and related devices that have reached the end of their useful lives in government agencies and private enterprise, according to Larry Novicky, general manager of recycled electronics products and services group Unicor. Unicor is the trade name of Federal Prison Industries, an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice.
When the aging electronic goods get to the Atwater facility, the inmates will test them and then put them onto one of two tracks. The devices will either be cleaned up for resale or donation, or they will be "mined" for materials including glass, plastics and copper wiring.
"We believe we are only part of the solution for the 'e-scrap' problem in this country," Novicky said. "Our niche is providing cost-effective labor to deal with end-of-life products."
Unicor provides the recycling services to federal, state and local governments, private-sector businesses and not-for-profit agencies. It relies on recyclers and reprocessors to collect and transport the electronic goods and parts.
News source: Cnet
