Will passes 1M pounds in recycled electronics

Will County officials are celebrating a milestone - having collected more than 1 million pounds of electronic recycling.

County Executive Larry Walsh said the county recycling program has grown from four permanent sites that opened in July 2008 to 10 locations, with an 11th opening Friday at the Monee Reservoir.

"At the last two sites (that opened), in Lockport and Mokena, residents had been bringing in electronics before we had the official opening," Walsh said.

To get an idea of what 1 million pounds of electronics means, if the grand total was represented by only one type of item, it would equal 23,700 microwave ovens, 13,650 televisions or 63,350 printers, said Marta Keane, recycling program specialist for the county land use department's waste services division.

In the first six months of the permanent electronic recycling sites, there were 3,862 participants. That number grew to 7,795 in the next six months. In the first seven months of this year, 12,468 people dropped off items, according to the department.

Vintage Tech, the Plainfield company that collects and recycles electronics for the county, reported that the county total reached 1,005,002 pounds as of July 31, after the company's pickup at the Bolingbrook recycling site.

As of July 31, the county had spent $137,000 - or about 14 cents per pound - to recycle its collected electronics. Keane said the funding comes from revenue at the county's Prairie View Landfill.

For more information about the permanent recycling sites or any of their programs, go to www.willcountyillinois.com under land use or call the waste services division at (815) 727-8834.

SUN-TIMES NEWS GROUP