Dead monitors and outmoded keyboards sat Monday in a jumbled pile in a blue garbage container behind Lawrence High School.

Could they have been reused, resold or recycled instead of placed on the technological scrap heap?

“We recover all the parts we can,” said Hal Hodges, director of technology for the Lawrence school district. “At a certain point, they don’t have value.”

The replacement of about 150 computers at LHS, 1901 La., is part of a districtwide program to swap out 619 computers at a cost of $540,000. Computers being replaced are at least four years old, he said.

Hodges said two-thirds of the old machines at LHS were placed in storage at the LHS Annex or Centennial School until they could be stripped of usable parts.

About 50 computers had no marketable value and were tossed in the trash.

With some machines, Hodges said, technological demands of the classroom surpass what the units can do for students and staff. Older, slower machines can’t be upgraded economically to handle modern software.

Software licensing agreements also require that operating systems be deleted from computers before disposal, Hodges said. That makes it challenging for people to make use of donated hardware, he said.

“Without an operating system, they really have no value,” he said.

Hodges said the district attempted to auction old computers several years ago. Three pallets of computers were sold for approximately $5 each.

“The person came in and picked out what he wanted and left the rest,” he said.

Even recycling companies are having trouble drawing value from junked computers, said Lisa Schmitt, office manager of Lonnie’s Recycling in North Lawrence.

“We’re thinking of no longer taking them,” she said. “There’s not a lot of value in them.”

The situation in Lawrence is reflected at the national level. According to the National Safety Council, more than 315 million computers will become obsolete by the 2004. Trashing these computers would add an estimated 8.5 million tons of waste to America’s landfills.