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LEAD-IN BY HOST: Why are environmentalists planning to protest a local computer-recycling event tomorrow? Activists say people should think twice before donating their obsolete computers at the event sponsored by Dell Computers and Keep Houston Beautiful. The toxic e-waste could end up in a federal prison. Erika McDonald has the report. STORY: As part of a national public relations campaign, Texas-based Dell Computers will collect unwanted computers from a drop-off location in Southwest Houston on Saturday. Where the e-waste goes from there has environmentalists raising questions over prison labor exploitation. Federal Prison Industries, also known by the trade name UNICOR, employs inmates to turn obsolete machines back into raw materials. Texas Campaign for the Environment's Robin Schneider: "One of the big dangers are these toxic flame retardants. They're like the old PCBs and they're turning up in the Arctic and breast milk. And a whole laundry list of chemicals that go into making these computers and they need to be treated as toxic waste. And we don't think prisons are the appropriate place to deal with toxic waste." Schneider said prison laborers were not provided the same environmental protections from high-tech toxins as their free-market counter parts. "They don't have inmates on committees if there's retaliation, if they make complaints or suggestions. Whereas at a state of the art facility there's a union, there's encouragement to make suggestions about how to improve, there's health and safety committees. They're using modern technology and not doing recycling techniques that are very crude and outdated." UNICOR spokesman Larry Novicky denied the charge. He said the company meets or exceeds all environmental and safety standards. Campaign for Environment's Robin Schnieder disagrees "There are no national standards for the electronic recycling industry yet. The EPA and OSHA haven't developed them. So it's really quite meaningless." Dell spokesperson Michele Glaze describes, UNICOR's practices: "They wear double bunny suits, they wear leather gloves up to their elbows, they wear glass goggles. They're in a ventilation arena. These are industry leading safety precautions." But environmentalists claims were not entirely unfounded when it comes to electronic recycling at federal prisons in Texas. An investigator with the regional office of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA, said UNICOR has been issued citations for inadequate environmental protections. Still, Dell intends to stand behind UNICOR and continue to use the company for its year round recycling efforts. Dell spokesperson Michele Glaze: "For special interest groups to try to focus on labor issues ... we're focused on the environment. We are trying to work with our customers to be responsive, to find ways to make it easy and affordable for them to recycle. And the current supplier base that we have on recycling is helping us do that." Campaign for Environment's Robin Schneider also complained ultra-cheap prison labor undercuts recycling industry infrastructure, making it difficult for free-market companies to compete. "Two electronics recyclers have had to lay off 25 percent their staff. And they've made an effort to employ folks of color and folks that are difficult to employ and they've made a point of that. They have had to lay off people because the prison recyclers are undercutting them." UNICOR's Larry Novicky argued his employees, the federal inmates, were primarily low-income people of color. This weekends' event is co-sponsored by Keep Houston Beautiful, a city-funded non-profit that provided volunteers and publicity for Dell. Events coordinator Michael Cowin said the city was not aware of the labor issues at play until contacted by KPFT news. His response to concerns over exploitation? "You know, there are so many companies with business practices that people may find objectionable, and here in Houston you can really find a lot of them. But to really nail the companies to the wall over one issue and throw out the baby with the bathwater is just not sensible. It's good to recycle regardless of the circumstances." Texas Campaign for the Environment, an Austin-based group, and Houston Clean Water Action will send leaf letters dressed in prison uniforms to tomorrow's event. Their aim is to inform people who want to discard their old computers with a clear conscience. Erika McDonald, KPFT News, Houston. E-mail Erika McDonald at erika@cechouston.org . This story was broadcast on May 16, 2003.