From used computer equipment once stored in basements and storage units, or surreptitiously unloaded in dumps, Total Reclaim Inc. is recovering copper, silver, gold, other metals.

From fluorescent lamps, the firm is separating out component parts, glass, aluminum, end caps and mercury bearing phosphor power for recycling and use in the manufacture of new products.

"Really, what we are doing is trying to educate the public," said Larry Zirkle, of Total Reclaim, as he stood in an Anchorage-area Hoffman Business Park warehouse packed with computers, fluorescent light bulbs and more, to be ground up and recycled.

"I'm not an environmentalist by nature, but I'm trying," he said. "I'm learning every day."

Zirkle, whose brother Jeff is a partner in Total Reclaim in Seattle, said he got involved after seeing graphic documentaries of "high-tech trashing in Asia and Africa" of discarded electronics equipment from the United States. "It was a life-changing experience," he said.

Two years ago Total Reclaim teamed up with Green Star in Anchorage in a campaign to collect tons of electronic equipment for recycling. Two separate events in 2004 and 2005 brought in more than 600 tons of obsolete and discarded equipment, which was ground down into valuable, resalable products.

"We chose them because they seem to be a thoughtful organization about the environmental impact of their business," said Sean Skaling, executive director of Green Star. "They take extra steps to find the most thoughtful, economically sound, best uses of the computer components."

Total Reclaim also teamed up with the Yukon River Intertribal Watershed Council to start cleaning up materials polluting the river, whose fish are vital to the existence of hundreds of people living along the Yukon, from Western Alaska to Canada.

Rob Rosenfeld, Alaska regional director of the council, said that with help from Total Reclaim and 21 corporate sponsors, the council in 2005 backhauled 1.3 million pounds of recyclable and hazardous wastes, mainly used cars, batteries, computers and propane tanks. In 2006, the council's focus will be more on refrigerators, freezers and used oil.

"We are protecting the river by keeping these items from getting into the watershed," Rosenfeld said.

And that's what Larry Zirkle wants to hear.

"It is exciting," said Zirkle, who wants to help the council clean up the Yukon, from Carcross to the mouth of the Yukon. In August 2005, Zirkle traveled to Moosehide, north of Dawson city, to meet with representatives of the council, and came away impressed with their foresight in looking out for their children's children.

Take a walk though the warehouse, and you'll see televisions, computer monitors and hard drives, keyboards, copiers, microwaves, cell phones, stereo systems and a host of other electronic equipment ready to be recycled.

"In our warehouse now we have 26,000 pounds" (of recyclables), he said. "Everything you see is recyclable."

Once the recyclables are shipped to Total Reclaim in Seattle, they are literally ground up in state-of-the-art facilities that use everything from magnetic fields to wind tunnels to separate out glass, plastic, metals and other materials. It's all 100 percent recyclable, except the wood off of the television sets, he said.

According to Rile, Total Reclaim is the largest firm of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, employing about 100 people full time in winter months, and about 125 at other times of the year.

In the Seattle area, the company has worked with several-dozen groups to sponsor community recycling events. Total Reclaim also takes about two trailer loads of electronics equipment a week from the University of Washington campus, he said.

In operation in Seattle since 1991, the company's warehouse there is 70,000 square feet, compared to 2,800 square feet in Anchorage.

"We are trying to get a lot of people to ship directly to Seattle, so we can offer them a cheaper rate," Zirkle said.

The cost for recycling most products in Anchorage is 45 cents a pound.

The majority of customers are glad that their used electronics, refrigerators, freezers, fluorescent bulbs and batteries are being recycled and don't mind paying a fee, Zirkle said. "Others are mad because they have to pay to have them recycled."

For those who balk, Total Reclaim does try to negotiate to assure that the discarded items are recycled and don't end up as hazardous waste in a dump.

Total Reclaim has opened its doors to recycle everything electronic in hopes of keeping this and much more out of Alaska landfills.

"We are working on a 20-year plan to clean up the entire state," Zirkle said.