[FreeGeek] Free Geek General Meeting - September 11, 2007

[Ashley]

Agenda
======

1. Introductions
2. Old business

In attendance
======

Jeff
Ashley
Sim
Sean H
Bernie
Joe
Ed
Mike G
Jitin
Ifny
Rusty
Joe
Cameron
Simon
David
James

Old Business
============
- UBC FG-like org
- SFU FG affiliate
- Under the Volcano festival
- Encorp bottle depot accepting computer hardware
- Bridge building with other orgs
       - Min of Env
       - RCBC
       - Teck Cominco
- Financial report
- Fundraising/marketing
- Barcamp
- Help needed with communications

New Business
============

- The "box"
- Encorp
- Sustainability/Recycling
- Workgroup
- $$$

The "Box"
---------
- A package was delivered from Dustin Harriman for Free Geek
- An Intellivision II with many games!

Encorp
------
- Meeting today at ESABC (Electronic Stewardship Association of BC)
- Industry organisation
- Stewardship program has no reuse component - everything destroyed
(smelter)
- "Landmark meeting" - invite only to talk about reuse issues
       - RCBC
       - Industry leaders
       - Free Geek
       - reBoot
       - Computers for Schools (CFS)
       - BAN
- Mostly presentations, little time for discussion or solutions
- Free Geek has been foremost in dialogue regarding reuse
- Reuse, reselling, and refurbishment are the bigger picture - big industry
already present in refurb/resell
- May not come to much with ESABC
- Free Geek's path may present more of an economic opportunity to work with
other orgs because we're dismantling donations to valuable scrap
- ESABC program hasn't been advertising much
       - Free Geek is getting more donations since the ESABC program started
- ICI
       - Industrial/Commercial recycling
       - What is FG doing to get these donations?
       - Will this conflict with our partnership with CFS?
- Concerns over whether FG can survive as a recycling operation
- Meeting objectives
       - FG previously asked to give input into reuse specs
       - Brought this input to the meet
- September 5th meet
       - Invited reBoot, CFS, Salvation Army, others
       - Discussion over whether reuse orgs can cherry pick from recycling
inputs
- Info to be found on the wiki at
http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Free_Geek_Vancouver

Sustainability/Recycling
------------------------
- "No viable recycler"
       - 36Zero Waste is not open and we do not know when they will be
       - 36Zero suggested we send our materials to the ESABC program
       - 36Zero has begun to hold back some of their downstream vendors
- What options do we have without 36Zero waste?
       - options
               - provincial program
               - Tech Cominco - currently auditing
       - FG's auditing means
               - visiting facilities
               - talking with trusted people/orgs
               - looking at environmental record
       - BAN mediating discussion with Tech Cominco
       - We may need to choose the lesser of evils and send to the smelter
       - If we work with the prov program, we may be able to sway the
process
- Concern we may become "victims of our own success"
       - Let's stick to what we do best
       - Some desire to shift our focus a bit from e-waste to Open Source
software/systems, education
               - Skim the cream off of the waste destined for Encorp and
produce open systems
       - Business plan built around recycling revenue
               - We may be forced to give our waste to the provincial
program where we get no revenue
               - How will we make money?
                       - Repair shop (like Our Community Bikes)
                       - Linux OEM (original equipment manufacturer)
                       - Training (software classes)
               - Do we need to scale back?
               - Thrift store could be leveraged
               - What to do with monitor recycling fees collected?
       - Human resource requirements
               - Too many responsibilities laid on too few people
- What is our mandate given what we know now?
       - Encorp wasn't started when FGV was born
       - Encorp has taken some of the the e-waste export motivation out
       - Smuggling e-waste still a lucrative industry
       - Too big a battle to fight the Encorp smelting program
- Has our recycling ethic been undercut by the provincial program?
- All media opportunities have been used to push Linux, Open Source
software, etc., education
- According to BAN
       - reuse is the highest form of recycling
       - just getting some reuse going is a good thing
- What to do with the current skids clogging up the shop?
       - big ethical problem with the monitors
               - proposed - store monitors until 36Zero Waste opens
                       - what if they don't open?
                       - ship somewhere acceptable as a one-off
               - public trust built around ethical recycling of monitors
               - fees collected under this premise
               - Use Total Reclaim? - can't due to export restrictions

- We need to keep working on a Plan B to avoid problems moving our output

Workgroups
==========
- 14 groups all with mailing lists
- Need more activity on workgroups
- Some very solid support so far, but more required
- Regular meetings for certain workgroups
       - Imminent
               - Operations
               - Education
               - Communications
               - Hardware grants
- Cull non-active mailing list subscribers?
       - General should be the only place for general support or listeners
               - It's a problem when a meeting is suggested and there is no
response
       - Lists allow people to keep in touch with what is happening in a
group
               - List is a method for group communication, not a synonym
- We have a lot of lists which dilutes the pool
       - Portland has a workgroup structure where workgroups become
available as involvement of an volunteer grows
- Talk about new technology for workgroup communications at next meeting
- Workgroups to be found through the mailing lists at freegeekvancouver.org

$$$
===
- $4000 grant received from MEC
- July
       - $1500 monitor fees
       - $1200 thrift store
- August
       - $785 monitor fees
       - $1500 thrift store
- September (current to date of meeting)
       - $150 monitor fees
       - $600 thrift store

Action
===========
- Cut monitor fees
       - Consensus
- Monitor expenditure - 10 skids to be shipped to 36Zero Waste in Calgary
       - $7 per monitor = $2100
       - Consensus
- Move business plan to a contingency meeting
       - Sunday Sept 16 - 14:00 - Location TBA
       - Consensus
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