When Debra Sequeira, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, heard about the free electronic waste drive scheduled to happen during spring break, she felt that it was perfect timing. Sequeira had been meaning to get rid of an old computer and monitor.

After enlisting a faculty member for help, Sequeira walked to the parking lot behind Emerson on Saturday, March 15, and was surprised to find the entire parking lot covered with monitors, keyboards, towers, and TVs.

"I had never seen so much technology in my life," Sequeira echoed, adding that she also saw a long line of cars on Nickerson waiting to drop off their old electronics.

Two weeks after the electronic waste drive, the parking lot is back to normal. But while at least 14 trucks of commercial waste left the parking lot, several parties have raised questions about issues of safety, permits, and disposal of the gear.

The drive was organized by SPU alumnus and adjunct faculty member Jason Purcell, along with volunteers for his newly-launched company RENEW, whose stated goal is to minimize electronic waste through collection and recycling and prevent overseas shipping, which often ends in children handling the toxic waste in terrible conditions.

"This was a true outreach to the community," said SPU's Assistant Vice President for Facility and Management Dave Church, whom Purcell first approached for the use of an SPU parking lot.

Due to press coverage, the amount of items donated surpassed expectations and prolonged the loading process from a couple days to a week, Purcell said.

Though not his area of specialization, investigator Dave Hicock, who works in the King County Hazardous Waste Program, stopped by the drive during the weekend to take a few pictures and ask a few questions.

One concern of having electronics in the parking lot is the possibility of having runoff water from the rain get into the sewer system, Hicock said.

Additionally, he said that a certain permit is required for collecting electronic waste in King County. The permit should have been obtained ahead of time, Hicock said, adding that a letter would be sent to Purcell to inform him of this requirement.

Hillary Karasz, responsible for communications in Seattle and King County Public Health Department, said in a follow-up e-mail that had her department known about the event, it would also have requested that Purcell file a request for a solid waste permit. She also mentioned that the main concern was runoff water. They have notified Purcell that he will need to file for a permit if he intends to repeat the drive.

Purcell said that he was not aware of the permit requirements.

As to the runoff water, Church said that the only request the city made was to empty the catch basins in the parking lot, something SPU did and does quite regularly. Church said he visited the collection area frequently and despite the amount of items and the prolonged use of the parking lot, he believed that Purcell "had handled the material quite well." There were no other safety concerns as the asphalt, he said, provided a nice barrier.

Sarah Westervelt, electronic waste project coordinator for Basel Action Network (BAN), a nonprofit environmental organization, also stopped by the collection drive. BAN is a watchdog organization that monitors illegal trade and hazardous waste that is shipped to developing or less-developed countries.

According to Westervelt, Purcell had first approached BAN a couple of months ago to talk about his business idea.

After hearing Purcell's idea, BAN raised concerns as to Purcell's partnering with the Los Angeles-based Environmental Computer Associates (ECA) run by Eric Lundgren, Westervelt said.

Prior to starting ECA, Lundgren had worked for his uncle in Washington who had also run a company called ECA, she said.

According to Westervelt and Purcell, a previous incident involving abandoned TV sets and the uncle's business raised concerns about Lundgren's environmental record.

Both Westervelt and Purcell said that Lundgren told them he had worked for the uncle, who said he would take care of the TVs but had then left town.

Lundgren came back to Seattle two years later, and after speaking with BAN about his new company, said he would recycle the TVs and inform Westervelt of the company he would use, she said. While the storage was cleared out, he never got back to her, she said.

Purcell said that Lundgren had recycled the TVs by sending them to a trustworthy company in Arizona.

After learning from Purcell about his plans for the SPU collection, Westervelt said she raised concerns not only about the runoff water, but also about proper documentation of where this material was going to end up and how Purcell, without charging people, had managed to transport and responsibly recycle the electronic waste in California.

According to Purcell, Westervelt left the collection site and proceeded to call all the various companies with which he and Lundgren had contracted. Purcell said that he shortly received a call from Lundgren, telling him that many of the companies had cancelled the contracts with Purcell and Lundgren because they were afraid of audits from different government agencies, such as the EPA.

This cancellation then resulted in confusion with the shipment, Purcell said.

Purcell said that he and Lundgren had been able to get shipment from Washington to California at a low price. However, because it was difficult to determine where to take the waste, some trucks held onto the waste longer than expected, he said. These expenses came out of Lundgren's pocket, Purcell said.

Westervelt said that she received the names of four companies from Purcell and that she contacted them to find out if they were expecting the shipment, but not all were aware of the shipment, she said. Westervelt said that, far from dissuading companies from taking the shipment, she encouraged them to accept the waste because she wanted it to be properly recycled.

One company told her that they have been concerned with out-of-state shipments because the state of California has been worried about potential fraud cases, she said.

The state of California has a program which gives recyclers funds for in-state recycling programs that possess proper documentation.

Westervelt said that because she was uncertain where all the material was going and where the money was coming from she contacted Jeff Hunts of the Department of Toxic Substance Control for California to let him know of the shipments.

In an interview Tuesday, Hunts confirmed that he had spoken with Lundgren and that Lundgren had said that the project would be financed out of his own pocket.

The cost for the entire project is somewhere around $50,000, Purcell said, adding that he had not yet gone into debt but that Lundgren had.

Purcell said that BAN's behavior was slander and extortion and that he might take legal action but preferred to sort things out with the organization if possible.

As of deadline yesterday, both Purcell and BAN confirmed that they will be meeting on Friday for discussion.