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November 25, 2009

Staffers go green, raise green for United Way

United WayPitt’s annual United Way drive sparks the University community’s generosity — and inspires its creativity as well.

Beyond pledging money, University employees can be counted on to boost Pitt’s contribution through additional fundraising efforts including sales, raffles and casual dress days.

This year, a new electronics recycling project coordinated by United Way drive representatives in the Office of Public Affairs offers participants a different way to give — by digging into their closets and drawers instead of their wallets. Cell phones, digital cameras, ink jet cartridges, iPods and laptop computers — working or not — may be brought to the fourth floor of Craig Hall through Dec. 4.

United Way drive representative Cara Hayden of Pitt magazine said the idea sprang in part from the campaign’s “green” theme, which includes online pledging rather than paper forms this year.

It also continues the Public Affairs office’s tradition of including reusing and recycling in its United Way fundraising efforts. The electronics collection replaces the office’s annual “hall sale” in which employees sold unwanted items from home to benefit United Way.

Recycling will be done through Texas-based Recycling Fundraiser, which, according to its web site, does not export e-waste or dump it in landfills. About 80 percent of the electronics received are reconditioned for resale; the rest are taken apart to recover the valuable metals they contain.

Additional information on the company and its recycling process is available at www.ecophones.com.

Hayden had no estimate of how much money might be raised through the electronics collection. The recycler pays for each item it receives, but the amount depends on the individual item, she said.

For more information on the collection, contact Hayden at 4-4361 or cjh3@pitt.edu.

— Kimberly K. Barlow

Filed under: Feature,Volume 42 Issue 7

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