Remember when your computer was new and seemed like the fastest thing on the planet?

Flash forward to the here and now, and it makes a tired tortoise seem speedy.

Bainbridge Island Boy Scout Troop 1496 is here to help. Each year, the Scouts host a variety of community service programs designed to benefit our community and the island’s fragile environment.

Their signature event is the annual Electronics Recycling Fundraiser, and it’s coming back from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 3.

The location of the collection center will again be the First Baptist Church at the intersection of Highway 305 and Madison Avenue on Bainbridge Island.

There’s something new this year, too. The troop is also offering a residential/business pickup prior to the e-waste fundraiser date.

During this environmentally friendly recycling event, the Scouts can recycle all your broken and unwanted e-waste.

For computers, people can choose to have their hard disks ground up at the recycling company’s local warehouse, or to have disks run through a “kill” program, like the one used by the Department of Defense, to permanently wipe all information off it (computers can then be resold to those who can’t afford new computers).

During the event, a nominal fee will be charged for the proper disposal of all electronic equipment.

The schedule of fees is $20 for a complete computer system; $10 for monitors, CPUs, laptop computers, printers, fax machines, copiers, scanners, televisions and microwave ovens; $5 for small home appliances; and $1 each for cell phones, computer keyboards and mice.

The recycling company is an approved Department of Ecology recycler.  It is also a member of the “Take It Back” Network that agrees to only recycle domestically or in developed countries.

“Over the past seven years we have recycled 17 truckloads of electronic waste off of Bainbridge Island and kept hazardous wastes such as barium, beryllium and lead out of our landfills and groundwater,” said Mark W. Costa, electronic recycling fundraiser chairman.

Monies raised from previous e-waste recycling events have been used to defray the cost of other community-wide service and enrichment projects.

“For instance, we built a new Grand Forest trail, reforested

40 acres of Blakely Harbor Park and constructed a large animal enclosure at the West Sound Wildlife Shelter, in addition to helping create an organic vegetable garden at Woodward Middle School,” Costa said.

For more information on the electronic recycling fundraiser, call Costa at 206-947-6091.