Published: April 10, 2007 10:13 am    PrintThis  

Duo hauls away cartridges, cell phones as fundraiser

MIDDLETON | It's often said that someone's trash is another person's treasure. And two Middleton residents are living that adage, as they turn refuse into something more valuable: thousands of dollars for the Flint Library.

Al Piccole, an optometrist in Lynn, and Gerry Guyer, a retired engineer and salesman of military electronics, have been collecting laser cartridges, ink cartridges and cell phones from neighbors and local businesses and shipping them to a company called the Funding Factory, which rewards those who recycle with a check.

Piccole and Guyer's system is truly a win-win situation: The library receives much needed funds for enrichment programs and materials. Piccole and Guyer get a chance to give back to the community they love. Local businesses get their bulky office trash taken away. And the fundraiser doesn't cost the library a cent.

"What could be better?" said Piccole, a 14-year Middleton resident. "You're taking basically junk and turning it into money that goes toward education."

But how much money is actually in the trashed equipment? Some of the laser cartridges can fetch up to $20 each from the Funding Factory, the smaller inkjet cartridges can be worth almost $5 each, and some cutting-edge cell phones can draw in more than $75 each.

In the two years that the pair have been doing the recycling program, they have earned the Flint Library more than $2,400. It's impressive, considering they only work on Wednesdays | Piccole's day off from his office. The only thing halting the project from really raking in the dough is their lack of man power.

"Without doing a lot of soliciting, we've managed to find a lot," said Guyer, who came from Revere to the farmland of Middleton in 1965. "We're only limited because it's just the two of us. The potential is really unlimited. Every office has these items. We haven't really tapped the market for small cartridges yet, and it's a huge market. Everyone has a printer at home."

Each laser cartridge, found in photocopiers and laser printers, is about the size of a fire extinguisher and only provides ink for about 4,000 printed pages. Therefore, many companies go through laser and ink cartridges quickly. But Piccole and Guyer can't get to them all.

"We need help, that's the only thing that prohibits us from going bigger," Piccole explained.

The men promise that the commitment from volunteers could be minimal and still make a difference.

"Even a little bit would be a major help to us," Piccole said, "just to go on a run once in a while and throw stuff in your trunk."

Guyer and Piccole, who joke that they're going to hit the road as a comedic duo, have put in more than enough work to make up for their lack of volunteers. On a recent Wednesday afternoon, they loaded the back of Piccole's pickup truck with five boxes of 10 cartridges each in just a few hours.

"It's a lot of work, and I think a lot of people get frustrated," Piccole said. "But for me, I feel satisfied that I'm giving something back to the library."

Adele Carter, director of the Flint Library, is thrilled with the efforts of the Piccole-Guyer team and their dedication to the cause.

"It has been enormously successful," she said. "It's a great source of funds and we're very, very grateful indeed."

Local businesses are also happy to be a part of a worthy cause in their community, and are pleased with the service that the two men bring them.

"They've been great," said Bill Bridge from Bostik, Inc., an industrial adhesive company on Route 62 in Middleton and one of the project's largest cartridge suppliers. "They come right down when we call them. They're working hard on it, and really contributing to the community. They're a couple of good guys, so we're glad to help them out and to help the library get rebuilt. It's good for everybody."

Some of the other companies contributing to Guyer and Piccole's recycling are the Middleton Jail, the local Verizon store, and the Ambient Temperature Corporation, a Middleton company that makes indoor environmental systems.

"The biggest complaint from companies is that they don't want to throw (the cartridges) out, but they take up so much room," Piccole said. "If the companies are good enough to hold on to them for us, we want to pick them up promptly. It's amazing how much gets thrown out."

The awkwardly shaped cartridges are difficult to transport. The pair has been collecting so many that the boxes have overtaken Piccole's garage. But despite the early mornings they've endured and the numerous flights of stairs they've navigated, the benefits they're bringing to the library make the work worthwhile for them.

"My son uses the library a lot," Piccole said. "He loves the library, so I really wanted to give back."

"It's just a nice thing to do," Guyer said. "The people at the library are so pleasant and appreciative, so it's easy to do."

Guyer frequents the library to rent audio books, as he's found that he can still get a lot of work done while listening at the same time. He sees the library as an essential part of Middleton, and a place where the entire town can convene.

"It's a common denominator in a community," Guyer said.



Environmental impact of printer cartridges

It takes about a gallon of oil to make a new laser cartridge.

Almost eight cartridges are thrown away per second in the United States alone.

In North America alone, more than 350 million cartridges per year are discarded in landfills, and that number increases by 12 percent annually.

A laser cartridge thrown into landfill can take up to 450 years to decompose. Some components made of industrial grade plastics will take more than a thousand years to decompose.

Every re-manufactured cartridge saves nearly 3<1/2> pounds of solid waste from being deposited in landfills.

70 percent of used printer cartridges throughout the world are currently being thrown out.

In one year, if the world’s discarded cartridges were lined up end-to-end, they would circle the earth more than three times.

Source: Cartridge World USA



Want to help?

Businesses or private residences interested in donating their discarded cartridges and cell phones to the Flint Library fundraiser, or people interested in volunteering with the recycling project are asked to call the Flint Library at 978-774-8132.