California Prison Industry Authority expands e-scrap collection

The Prison Industry Board has approved the expansion of the Folsom-based California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) Electronic Waste (E-Waste) Collection and Computer Refurbishment program to

two facilities in southern California. This increases the total number of locations for CALPIA E-Waste to four statewide. 

Through a collaborative effort between CALPIA, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Department of General Services (DGS) and the California Department of Technology (CDT), this statewide enterprise is designed to ensure a cost-effective, expedient information technology (IT) solution for state agencies and provide for a coordinated comprehensive e-scrap and surplus disposal plan.  

“This program will help reduce the amount of e-waste stored by state agencies while improving recycling efforts,” says DGS Chief Deputy Director and Prison Industry Board Member Jeff McGuire. “This program supports the governor’s and legislature’s goal of 75 percent recycling, composting or source reduction of solid waste by 2020 while doing so in a cost-effective manner, with no added to costs to any state agency, including CALPIA.”

Offenders participating in the program will learn marketable job skills in e-scrap recycling and computer refurbishing, CALPIA says, adding, “skills coveted in today’s job market that will help them find innovative employment opportunities when they return to their communities.”

CALPIA began the E-Waste Collection and Computer Refurbishing program in 2013 by entering into a statewide agreement with CDCR to help the agency resolve its backlog of accumulating e-waste. The program had solely operated in two sites located in northern California until this addition of two more locations.  

The Sacramento site, located at CALPIA’s On-Time Delivery North warehouse, is responsible for e-scrap collection and sorting. All unsalvageable IT items collected from state agencies are recycled by certified local vendors. Items that can be used for refurbishment are sent to a second site, located at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton. Youth there receive training on refurbishing and rebuilding computers using the salvaged and collected IT parts.  

With the board-approved program expansion, CALPIA says its E-Waste Collection and Computer Refurbishment enterprise will build upon the program model of the new northern California locations and expand to include an E-Waste collection point at the California Institution for Men in Chino and a collection point and development of a computer refurbishing program at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility in Ventura.  

“This program plays a unique role in helping offenders give back to communities,” says Charles L. Pattillo, CALPIA general manager and Prison Industry Board executive officer. “The computers they refurbish are provided to CDCR, county jail inmate programs, underserved school districts and nonprofit organizations in communities to help bridge the digital divide. With this expansion, we can now ensure that offenders statewide have the chance to learn these same skills and make a positive difference.”

CALPIA says its E-Waste Collection and Computer Refurbishment enterprise has the potential for significant savings to the state of California by rehabilitating offenders, which reduces recidivism and incarceration costs.   

CALPIA is a self-supporting state entity that manages more than 100 manufacturing, service and consumable enterprises in all 34 CDCR institutions. CALPIA invests in curriculum for offenders, offering 124 nationally recognized accredited certifications.