Recycling event collects 7.5 tons of electronic waste

DANVILLE (Scrap Monster): Area residents brought in about 7.5 tons of electronic items to be recycled at an electronic collection event jointly sponsored by the Vermilion County Health Department, Mervis Industries and Keep Vermilion County Beautiful.

The event was Saturday at Advantage Recycling, 14 S. Henning Road. On that day, 146 residents brought in about 15,500 pounds of televisions, computers, monitors, VCRs, keyboards, cell phones, cords, cables, gaming consoles and other items.

"The turnout at this collection was tremendous," public health administrator Shirley Hicks said in a press release.

"It was great to have so many residents take advantage of this opportunity to get rid of their broken or obsolete items safely."

Illinois has now banned electronic products such as televisions, computers, monitors, DVD players, fax machines and MP3 players from being disposed of in landfills.

Advantage Recycling routinely accepts electronic items for recycling and is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Mervis Industries officials were enthusiastic to cooperate for the special electronic collection event.

"We were happy to be involved in the event and are pleased with the results," Michael Mervis, Mervis Industries director, said in the release. "Responsible recycling, along with being an active partner in our community is central to our purpose."

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans throw away about 400 million electronic products each year.

Those products can contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and beryllium that must be properly managed to prevent soil and groundwater contamination. But obsolete electronic products also can contain valuable materials that can be recycled for reuse such as copper, gold and circuit chips.