03/21/05 — County collects 22,480 pounds of electronics

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County collects 22,480 pounds of electronics

By Matt Shaw
Published in News on March 21, 2005 1:47 PM

Wayne County residents began spring cleaning over the weekend, getting rid of more than 11 tons of broken or outdated computers, TVs and other equipment.

The electronic recycling collection held at Sam's Club on Saturday tallied 22,480 pounds, according to Franklin Smith, owner of Franklin's Recycling Co. of Greenville.

Very little of that will end up in a landfill, he said during the collection Saturday.

Newer video monitors will be tested and, if they can be reused, recycled. Cell phones in good working condition will be repaired and sold.

But Smith added, "If it's here, it's probably not repairable."

Most of the equipment will be ground up. Metals and plastics will be sorted out. For example, magnets will be used to pull leads out. Most of the raw materials can be used again.

Computer manufacturers have helped with the recycling effort, said Simonne Cato, director of Keep Wayne County Beautiful, which sponsored the collection. Some computers once contained as many as 19 different types of plastic and now have only four, she said.

Although the numbers were slightly down from four previous collections, Ms. Cato called it a good collection.

"We are seeing people from all walks of life, so we're getting the message out throught the newspaper, radio and flyers," she said. "We're being pro-active and giving people options for what to do with this equipment."

As one man said as he dropped off a computer, "My wife's happy. I got it out of her closet."