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Consumer electronics have gone to a better place
County residents give tons of electronics to recycler
Mar 13, 2011
By AMY BIOLCHINI
Times Herald
GOODELLS -- Nearly 25 tons of unwanted electronics -- including computer towers, monitors, televisions and VCRs -- were donated to a recycling company Saturday afternoon at Goodells County Park.
Coordinated on behalf of the St. Clair County Environmental Services Department, the collection netted about 5 tons of electronics in the first two hours.
In the park's middle exhibit barn, pallets stacked with bulky cathode-ray tube monitors towered over boxes of circuit boards, hard drives and unidentifiable electronic
parts.
The Illinois-based company Vintage Tech Recyclers was at the site Saturday to organize and haul the items back to their demanufacturing plant.
After the donated electronics are tested and sorted, the nonfunctioning items will be stripped for precious metals and other commodities.
Items that can be refurbished will be restored to functioning order and resold or donated to schools and churches.
Dawn Behem of Riley Township brought a trunk full of old computer parts to the event.
"No one wants this junk," Behem said. "It's so nice to have something like this. I've been stockpiling for five years."
Behem said she no longer needed the outdated computer parts that gathered dust and took up space in her basement, but she said she didn't feel right dumping them in the trash.
Seth Smith, Vintage Tech Recyclers' environmental representative, said more than 60% of the donated items typically were old computer monitors and TV sets.
Michigan regulations allow for the disposal of electronics in landfills, but laws are changing in other states -- and Smith sees the change coming to Michigan as well.
Components inside electronic equipment often contain dangerous mercury and lead and could leak into groundwater when circuit boards, TVs and bulky CRT monitors are tossed into landfills and subjected to the elements.
"Manufacturers that sell their product here are enforced by the state to fund recycling programs," Smith said in reference to how the company is partially funded.
Vintage Tech Recyclers collects used electronics across Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin. When the company started its business in 2005, it collected 80,000 pounds of electronics. In 2010, that number grew to 12 million pounds, and the company expects to reach 20 million pounds this year.
? Contact Amy Biolchini at (810) 989-6259 or abiolchini@gannett.com.
Times Herald
GOODELLS -- Nearly 25 tons of unwanted electronics -- including computer towers, monitors, televisions and VCRs -- were donated to a recycling company Saturday afternoon at Goodells County Park.
Coordinated on behalf of the St. Clair County Environmental Services Department, the collection netted about 5 tons of electronics in the first two hours.
In the park's middle exhibit barn, pallets stacked with bulky cathode-ray tube monitors towered over boxes of circuit boards, hard drives and unidentifiable electronic
parts.
The Illinois-based company Vintage Tech Recyclers was at the site Saturday to organize and haul the items back to their demanufacturing plant.
After the donated electronics are tested and sorted, the nonfunctioning items will be stripped for precious metals and other commodities.
Items that can be refurbished will be restored to functioning order and resold or donated to schools and churches.
Dawn Behem of Riley Township brought a trunk full of old computer parts to the event.
"No one wants this junk," Behem said. "It's so nice to have something like this. I've been stockpiling for five years."
Behem said she no longer needed the outdated computer parts that gathered dust and took up space in her basement, but she said she didn't feel right dumping them in the trash.
Seth Smith, Vintage Tech Recyclers' environmental representative, said more than 60% of the donated items typically were old computer monitors and TV sets.
Michigan regulations allow for the disposal of electronics in landfills, but laws are changing in other states -- and Smith sees the change coming to Michigan as well.
Components inside electronic equipment often contain dangerous mercury and lead and could leak into groundwater when circuit boards, TVs and bulky CRT monitors are tossed into landfills and subjected to the elements.
"Manufacturers that sell their product here are enforced by the state to fund recycling programs," Smith said in reference to how the company is partially funded.
Vintage Tech Recyclers collects used electronics across Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin. When the company started its business in 2005, it collected 80,000 pounds of electronics. In 2010, that number grew to 12 million pounds, and the company expects to reach 20 million pounds this year.
? Contact Amy Biolchini at (810) 989-6259 or abiolchini@gannett.com.
