SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE -"It's like mining," said Alan Petten, the computer teacher at Sir John Franklin High School who is heading up a project that has students packaging up more than 10 years worth of old computer technology.

The old parts are being sent to a computer recycling plant in Edmonton, Alta.

Valuable metals like gold exist in the circuit boards and hard drives of many computers, and a lot of recyclable plastic as well.

Petten said only one per cent of what the Alberta recycling company receives will go to the landfill."There's no cost to the schools," said Petten. The company, Shanked Computer Recycling Inc., pays for all the shipping.

The school is not getting any money for the materials either, but Petten said monetary gain is not the goal.

"For us it's just to have it properly recycled, rather than going to a landfill," he said.

"We hung onto all the gear thinking that eventually we'll be able to recycle it."

The computers, monitors, and printers have been piling up since 1996. Petten said there are about 25 pallets full of equipment piled outside the school, where it is all being stored.

Petten has two students who are consistent at helping out during lunch hour, which contributes to their Career and Life Management (CALM) hours.

Students need a total of 25 CALM hours to graduate, which can be garnered over their four years in high school.

Petten said there are also other students stopping by for a lunch hour or two to help the recycling efforts.

Doug Ritchie of Ecology North said sending trash electronics down to recycling plants is something that needs to be done.

"We realize that if we have the means to do it up here, so much the better, but the reality is that to do it properly and economically, you have to do it on a bigger scale," said Ritchie.

He said as long as it's done properly, it doesn't matter where the electronic waste goes.

"The key thing is that we really need to develop a program where these materials, computers and other electronics, are not going into a landfill," he said.

As an example Ritchie noted is the amount of old computer monitors, which contain lead, that are ending up in the landfill as more people make the transition to new LCD monitors.

The Yellowknife Solid Waste Facility did not return phone calls to Yellowknifer to discuss the amount of electronic waste that ends up in the landfill.