30,000 pounds of electronics to be recycling
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on March 29, 2004 1:58 PM
Traffic flowed steadily Saturday into a corner of the parking lot at Sam's Club, as Wayne County residents and businesses brought their old electronics out for recycling.
By day's end, the area looked like an outdoor flea market for televisions and computers, and several people stopped to try to buy one of the discarded computer systems.
News-Argus/Barbara Arntsen
Two women look at the computer equipment in Sam's Club parking lot, while Simonne Cato, director of Keep Wayne County Beautiful, explains that all the equipment will be recycled. More than 30,000 pounds of electronics were dropped off at the site.
More than 30,000 pounds of electronics were collected Saturday during the third electronic recycling day sponsored by Keep Wayne County Beautiful.
People of all ages came out to bring their old electronic equipment.
One elderly woman said she got her neighbors to load the huge old television set in her car.
"I've been wondering what to do with it," she said. "It stopped working awhile back."
Another woman unloaded a trunk full of computer equipment and said she would probably have more by the next electronic recycling day in the fall.
"I've got a monitor that I expect will die soon, so I'll probably see you again in November," she said.
KWCB partnered with Franklin's Recycling Co. to hold the event, which was only supposed to last until 2 p.m., but continued until late into the afternoon.
Franklin Smith, owner of Franklin's Recycling, said his company started as a way to keep harmful electronics out of the landfill.
"Some of the computers and printers we take apart for parts," he said. "Our idea is to keep it out of the landfill. The glass and the lead is not biodegradable. But on a computer or printer, the metals all can be reused. Everything can be recycled."
Items collected included traditional consumer electronics, such as computers, printers, keyboards and scanners. Items also covered televisions, VCRs, stereos and fax machines, digital cameras and cellular phones.
Simonne Cato, director of KWCB, said that one of the biggest environmental threats from obsolete electronic equipment is the leakage of lead from cathode ray tubes into the groundwater. They are funnel-shaped, leaded glass tubes with a metal frame inside that are housed in computer monitors and televisions.