Dillon Gage Metals: Everyone Can Go “Green” By Keeping PCs, Cell Phones Out Of Landfills

Feb. 23, 2011 - PRLog -- and reused, instead of being unnecessarily tossed in overflowing, local landfills, an expert at Dillon Gage Metals says.

“The list of items containing precious metals found in and around a typical American home or business is surprisingly long and includes computer components, cell phones, handhold electronic games and silver-oxide batteries from watches,” says Terry Hanlon, president of Dillon Gage Metals. Other common items are gold-plated wire and contacts from electrical switches, computer-printer cartridges with gold contacts, and platinum-group auto catalysts.

One desktop computer does not contain much gold, Hanlon states. But if unused PCs are cluttering up basements and attics, consider collecting them for a trip to a metals-reclamation facility. Include the neighbors. A time to do that and to get kids involved is Earth Day on April 22, he says. Small businesses in a community can join forces to send their unused PCs and cell phones to a metals-reclamation firm.

One additional word of advice, however, be sure to scrub all personal information from your computer before turning it over to anyone. You will probably need to remove and destroy your hard drive first.

Collecting discarded PCs is a way for all community members to learn about reducing volume in landfills. “Everything affecting the environment starts locally,” Hanlon notes.

Over two million metric tons of gold ore and waste are recovered from electronic scrap in the United States annually. Old computers contain recoverable metals, including gold, silver, palladium, platinum and copper, from wires and circuit boards.

Many other metals in PCs, like lead, are hazardous under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a federal law controlling waste in the United States. That law prohibits companies from incinerating some types of electronic scrap or disposing of them in municipal landfill. Precious metals refiners seldom process discarded, personal-electronic items, but retailers and manufacturers accept them, and you can check with your municipality about community recycling programs.

Retailer Best Buy, for instance, offers consumer-electronics-recycling programs in all its U.S. stores. See Best Buy Recycling for details. Office Depot has kiosks where consumers can drop off used cell phones, batteries and accessories. AT&T stores accept unwanted cell phones and Personal Data Assistant devices regardless of the manufacturer or carrier. Radio Shack accepts used batteries.

You may remember reports of bad odors in New York City the week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was blamed in part on thousands of PCs burning in office buildings.

Waste handling is highly regulated, and firms involved in electronics recycling must be registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental agencies.

Dillon Gage is committed to a Green America and refers any clients interested in recycling computer circuit boards or other electronic parts to specialist companies, Hanlon says. All of Dillon Gage's refining processes are environmentally sound and meet or exceed EPA requirements, he notes.

For firms looking to recycle bench sweeps, precious metal scraps or dental grinds, Dillon Gage refineries will weigh the material and send it to an on-site induction furnace. The smelter takes a sample of the melted metal and assays it by fire. From the assay, Dillon Gage can calculate how much metal the client provided. Dillon Gage contacts the customer immediately to lock in a price based on the metal's current or spot value.  Dillon Gage refineries accept a $5,000 minimum value of pure gold, silver and platinum for processing, or any combination of those metals worth $5,000.

Dillon Gage operates a refinery in Dallas. For more information on Dillon Gage Metals Refinery, please visit http://www.dillongage.com/metals/refining  or phone 888-436-3489. Follow Dillon Gage on Twitter @DillonGage and on Facebook.

About Dillon Gage
Dillon Gage (www.DillonGage.com) was founded in 1976, and its companies include:
•   Dillon Gage Securities, Inc., a full-service NASD member firm that specializes in financial planning.
•   Dillon Gage Metals, one of the largest precious metals dealers in the U.S.
•   Dillon Gage Inc., a firm dealing in futures markets.
•   Diamond State Depository, a wholly owned, independently operated precious-metals storage facility located in New Castle, Delaware.


For more  information, contact:
Jo Trizila
jo@TrizCom.com
O 972-247-1369
C: 214-232-0078

# # #

Dillon Gage operates a refinery in Dallas. For more information on Dillon Gage Metals Refinery, please visit http://www.dillongage.com/metals/refining or phone 888-436-3489. Follow Dillon Gage on Twitter @DillonGage and on Facebook.

About Dillon Gage
Dillon Gage (www.DillonGage.com) was founded in 1976, and its companies include:
• Dillon Gage Securities, Inc., a full-service NASD member firm that specializes in financial planning.
• Dillon Gage Metals, one of the largest precious metals dealers in the U.S.
• Dillon Gage Inc., a firm dealing in futures markets.
• Diamond State Depository, a wholly owned, independently operated precious-metals storage facility located in New Castle, Delaware.