Politics & Government

E-Waste Collection Draws a Crowd

Roundup of old electronics a hit as drivers line South Boulevard to dump their old gadgets.

Just minutes after the Oak Park's e-waste collection day officially started, the big cardboard crates inside the Public Works Center were already swelling with old electronic junk.

Oak Park resident John Irvine, 41, dumped off a carload of electronics, including an old DVD player and a 19-inch television.

"I think I've had it since 1987," Irvine said. "A lot of this stuff has been sitting around the garage, but now we'll have some room."

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The event is designed for residents to safely dispose of unused electronics. It is held almost monthly, said Karen Rozmus, the village's waste reduction manager.

In past months, she said, about 30,000 pounds of e-waste have been hauled away from a single collection.

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Last Saturday's event started at 9 a.m. at the Public Works Center, 201 South Blvd., and continued through noon.

The discarded items will be taken to the Romeoville-based Vintage Tech Recyclers. The firm partners with an outside contractor that converts lead-laden waste, such as computer monitors and televisions,  into clean glass fit for recycling.

The electronics recycling company will also wipe computer hard drives clean and test equipment to see whether it can be refurbished, officials said.

"Otherwise, it's all dismantled," Rozmus said. "It's not shipped over to any Third World environmental disasters."

Here is a list of acceptable items: desktop computers, peripherals, laptops, monitors, televisions, cell phones, rechargeable batteries, printers, fax machines, MP3 players, portable digital assistants, video game consoles, video cassette recorders, digital video disk players, zip drives and scanners.


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