The CACRC is able to provide a way for individuals and businesses to lower their carbon footprint. The energy required to produce a new computer could run an old computer for 10 years. Recycling a computer system is same as taking 1/2 car off the road and saving 68% of household allotment of energy for a year.

According to the EPA emissions calculator in 2008, the environmental savings due to the CACRC’s reuse and recycling efforts are the equivalent to:

• an energy savings of 2000 US households in a year
• greenhouse gas reduction equal to removing 1413 cars from the road per year
• Solid waste generated by 417 US households in a year
• Reduction in air emissions of 93663 metric tons
• Reduction in water emissions of 196 metric tons
• Cost savings of $1,966,000

New Recycling Fees for 2009

From the Executive Director, Nancy Jo Craig:

Due to the economic downturn, recycling - from electronics to paper - is in a tail spin. There has also been an increase in the high cost of properly recycling material. For the past ten years the CACRC has recycled the electronic waste of the community and state as a free service. Unfortunately, in 2009 we will have to charge a processing fee on certain items. Most items will still remain free to recycle. Items that will have a recycling fee include:

For individuals dropping off equipment please come to the front office first to pay for the items and receive a ticket for the warehouse. Call if you have any questions prior to coming: (225) 379-3577.

Businesses will be invoiced upon pick-up or drop-off. Please call for any further information.

Remember that by recycling your computer system you are:

• Saving as much energy as taking 1/2 car off the road and saving 68% of household allotment of energy for a year.
• Preventing hazardous material from impacting the enviroment.
• Helping your community with the computers we refurbish for schools, non-profits, and low income families.

Thanks! We appreciate your support.

A Message from the Executive Director,
Nancy Jo Craig:

Experts estimate that our country will have over 400 million obsolete computers. In addition to computers there are discarded cellphones, palm pilots, I-pods, the list goes on and on. Today only 13% of these obsolete computers and electronics are recycled or reused. The rest may end up in landfills, with electronic waste becoming a leading source of environmental hazard and the fastest growing part of our waste stream. Louisiana is a state with one of the highest poverty rates for children, many without the resources to afford a computer. The CACRC is a nonprofit designed to meet these challenge head on and reuse discarded computers for schools, nonprofits, low income families, the general public, while recycling the electronics that cannot be fixed.

According to CompuMentor's Jim Lynch:

"from an environmental standpoint, it is best to reuse computers an extra two or three years than to recycle their components. Over each computer's life cycle, reselling or upgrading computers saves 5 or 20 times more energy than recycling. The cost in material for producing a computer and monitor is immense, especially microprocessors. The average 53-pound desktop computer and monitor requires 530 pounds of fossil fuels, 50 pounds of chemicals and 3,330 pounds of water - 1.8 metric tons in all. It takes thousands of chemicals to make a computer. The total energy used per year of owning a computer is roughly the same as a refrigerator, the most expensive home appliance in terms of cost of ownership. It's far better for the environment to hang on to a computer if possible for an extra couple of years than to recycle it and buy a new one every 3 to 4 years."

Reuse and recycling reduce the negative impacts of mining and processing of raw material, including the impacts on habitat, water, and air quality. Reuse and recycling of electronics also avoids the need for plastic production and precious metal mining for circuit boards.