Free recycling Saturday for most electronics: Cash fee for tube televisions, tube monitors

Most unwanted electronics items can be dropped off free for recycling on Saturday, May 16, at the La Salle County Governmental Complex in Ottawa.

The exceptions are tube televisions and tube computer monitors. Fees for those will be collected by Vintage Tech Recyclers of Plainfield, which is handling the program, and will need to be paid in cash, a spokesperson told The Times.

The fee for tube computer monitors and iMacs is $5 each. For televisions, the fees will be $15 for those smaller than 32 inches and $25 for those 32 inches or more.

Although the county's Environmental Services and Land Use Office is paying to bring Vintage Tech out to conduct the program, the county is not collecting any of the fees.

In fact, said Mike Harsted, the department's director, in order to get rid of its stash of old computer monitors, the county will be paying the same fees as the private citizens and schools the program is aimed at serving.

The electronics may be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the east parking lot of the governmental complex at 707 E. Etna Road.

Among the items that can be dropped off at no charge are desktop and laptop computers, keyboard, mice, flat-panel monitors, cords, cables, computer drives, printers, DVD players, VCR units, camera, camcorders, speakers, radios, typewriters, fax machines, adding machines, scanners, postage machines, calculators, paper shredders, telephones, cellular phones, answering machines and pagers.

Businesses and government agencies or institutions that have electronics to get rid of may call Harsted's office for advice at 815-434-8666.

There's bad stuff in old electronics Question: What are the substances of potential concern in electronics?


Answer from Vintage Tech Recyclers of Plainfield: Lead, mercury, cadmium and brominated flame retardants are among the substances of concern in electronics. These substances are included in the products for important performance characteristics, but can cause problems if the products are not properly managed at end of life.

• Lead is used in glass in TV and PC cathode ray tubes as well as solder and interconnects; older CRTs typically contain on average 4 pounds of lead — sometimes as much as 7 pounds in older CRTs — while newer CRTs contain closer to 2 pounds of lead.
• Mercury is used in small amount in bulbs to light flat panel computer monitors and notebooks.
• Cadmium was widely used in ni-cad rechargeable batteries for laptops and other portables. Newer batteries (nickel-metal hydride and lithium ion) do not contain cadmium.
• Brominated flame retardants are widely used in plastic cases and cables for fire retardancy; the more problematic ones have been phased out of newer products but remain in older products.