Recycling events push to eradicate electronic waste
Published Sunday, April 27, 2008
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Tim Hawkins’ wallet was a little lighter when he left Saturday’s electronics recycling event at the Carlson Center, but so was his conscience.
“We’re doing the environmentally right thing, that’s why I’m here,” Hawkins said, after paying $60 to dispose of an old Trinitron TV set, an old Modular Components System stereo receiver, an old set of Sony speakers, an old Apple computer complete with monitor, processing unit, printer and keyboard and four old telephones, including a rotary dial version.
“This stuff has been in my attic or garage for a long time,” Hawkins said.
It was the second time the speakers had been recycled, he said.
“I got them out of the Dumpster 10 years ago, and they worked in my classroom for 10 years,” said the 58-year-old Hawkins, a primary intensive resource teacher at Joy Elementary School. “Now it’s time to recycle them again.”
Hawkins was one of dozens of Fairbanks residents who showed up at the Carlson Center on Saturday to drop off everything from old computers to TV sets and VCRs to fax machines and printers to copiers to microwave ovens and telephones to CDs to calculators.
Interior Alaska Green Star, a nonprofit group that promotes green business practices in Fairbanks and other Interior communities, sponsored the electronics recycling event. Green Star hosts electronics recycling events twice a year in Fairbanks — once in the spring and once in the fall.
In 2006, the first year Green Star hosted electronics recycling in Fairbanks, the group took in seven tons of e-waste. Last year, that figure rose to 25.4 tons.
“We bring in more e-waste every time,” Green Star executive director Darcie Warden said. “People respond.”
Growing problem
With technology advancing at almost breakneck speed, the problem of electronics waste is growing each year, Warden said. The average life span of a personal computer is only five years, and millions of computers become obsolete each year. The estimated number of obsolete computers stored in the U.S. is more than 500 million, according to the National Safety Council.
The same thing is happening with cell phones, printers and other electronic devices.
Millions of TV sets will become obsolete when manufacturers make the mandated transition from analog to digital TVs in February.
In addition to taking up space, electronic products contain toxic materials such as lead, cathode ray tubes, mercury, cadmium, copper, lithium, flame retardants and phosphorus.
The e-waste collected in Fairbanks is shipped to Anchorage, where Total Reclaim Inc., a Seattle-based company that specializes in computer and electronics recycling, dismantles the different electronics and separates them into re-usable parts. More than 95 percent of the parts in a computer are re-usable, Warden said.
Total Reclaim, which has a satellite office in Anchorage, charges Green Star 35 cents a pound for its e-waste because it costs the company more to dismantle the electronics then it gets selling parts to other companies who can use them, such as copper, plastic, glass, lead and mercury, according to Warden. The fees simply cover costs, and Green Star makes no money on the e-waste it collects.
While some recycling companies simply export discarded electronic products to developing countries because labor costs are lower and environmental regulations aren’t as strict, Total Reclaim keeps all recycled electronics waste in the U.S., which is one of the reasons Green Star works with the company.
“We want to make sure it goes to a company that’s going to recycle it and gets rid of the hazardous materials properly,” said Bill Smyth, a member of Interior Alaska Green Star’s board of directors who was helping out Saturday.
TV tsunami
Kate Hedstrom and Rob Cermak brought in a 13-inch Toshiba television, an old stereo receiver and a box of electronic “doo dads” that had been collecting dust for a couple years. The Fairbanks couple didn’t mind paying $30 to get rid of it.
“If they can recycle it, all the better,” Cermack said.
“We don’t want to throw it in the Dumpster,” Hedstrom added.
She remembered buying the small television set 20 years ago.
“I bought it for the 1988 Olympics,” Hedstrom said.
Like many TV owners, Hedstrom and Cermack have already switched over to a digital TV. They recently bought a digital tuner with a 40-inch LCD screen.
“If they hold this a year from now after the switchover in February they’ll have pallet loads of TVs,” predicted Cermack.
Green Star is bracing for a “tsunami” of television sets once the switch to digital broadcasting goes into effect next February, Warden said. She hopes people will recycle old analog sets this fall or hold onto them until next spring.
“That’s one of the challenges we have; we don’t have storage,” she said.
With the advent of iPods, another electronics item that is going by the wayside is CDs, Warden said.
“Pretty soon we’re going to have tons of CDs to deal with,” she said.
The right thing
Fees varied depending on the item. A large TV set (28 to 36 inches) cost $38 and a small television (19 to 27 inches) was $25, the same price it cost to drop off a complete computer set consisting of a processing unit, a monitor and keyboard.
Monitors and laptops were $12 apiece. Printers ranged from $10 (less than 20 pounds) to $25 (more than 30 pounds). Microwave ovens were $10, a fax machine was $8 and it was $5 for a a DVD player, VCR or stereo receiver. There was no charge to recycle CDs, DVDs, floppy disks, telephones, answering machines, cell phones or keyboards.
Dave Gehrke paid $20 to drop off a Kenwood stereo receiver, a Sony DVD player, a cell phone and a printer, all of which still worked, he said.
“It’s just a waste to throw it in the trash,” said Gehrke, a 48-year-old maintenance worker at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.
Lona Baurick showed up with an old JC Penny TV and a “vintage” VCR player on Saturday.
“It’s one of those ones where you push the button and it pops up,” the 60-something Baurick said of the VCR.
Baurick, who got rid of an old computer at Green Star’s e-recycling event last fall, didn’t mind having to pay $30 to dispose of the TV and VCR.
“I just feel badly there isn’t a line going out to the street,” she said. “So many people just throw it on the (re-use) platform at the Dumpster.”
Phil Kuehnert pulled up with a Compaq computer monitor and tower in the back of his Subaru. He bought the computer seven years ago when his son was in high school, and it has sat unused for the past three years.
“My wife and I have gone to laptops and we can’t just put it in the Dumpster,” said the 64-year-old Kuehnert, the pastor at Zion Lutheran Church.
Like most people that showed up Saturday, Kuehnert would like to see more effort made to recycle, even if it did cost him $25.
“This is what this country needs to do,” he said. “It’s good to get it done properly.”
Community Discussion
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This is a sad story on the state of the Borough's involvement. Why isn't the Borough pitching in?
Why are taxpayers paying for this service?
Why isn't there a dumpster for electronics at the transfer site?
Of course its extra work, everything is but personally I'm tired of Earth Day. I don't need a government designated day to show me when to recycle and conserve. Its a way of life.
Thanks to those who pitched in on this activity.
This is a great recycling effort and I applaud all those involved. It’s too bad I can’t include the Borough in that accolade. There are a number of people in our community who are just getting by month to month and paying an extra $30-$50 bucks to dispose of their electronic trash isn’t feasible. Their things are going to end up in the landfill. If the Borough subsidized this effort, they might find even more people willing to participate in this great program. No, I know there will still be those who would object on principle alone to paying to dispose of their trash, but it might make it a viable option for those who WANT to participate but simply can’t.
Recycling events like this are great! They continue to help keep "stuff" out of our landfills, even if there is a cost.
There are other resources in Fairbanks, however, that should not be forgotten. If you have extra stuff, you could always post ads at Safeway or Fred Myers (Free), in the News Miner Classifieds (Small Cost), UAF (Free), and online.
Online resources include Craigslist (free, anchorage.craigslist.org), Fairbanks Garagesale (free, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fairbanks_...), and Freecycle (free, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fairbanksf...).
As a group moderator for Freecycle, I may have a little bias; however at now time should that be considered in light of the resources available.
There is much we can do to help the community. Providing for a cleaner Alaska should be all of our goals!!!
Jace
why is it the borough's job to help out? we have enough welfare programs in this country! we do not need more!
To 123.
If the Borough gets involved, you get to help pay for it anyway. So even if you don't use the service you pay. Earth Day brings it all together so it's easier to coordinate. You have the opportunity to recycle now when there is a place to take it. So it costs a few bucks. At least you know it will be disposed of properly.
Could someone tell me what is toxic about copper, which this article lists as a "toxic material?
I too have old electronics sitting around and don't have the $30 each to dispose of them. You can actually do crafts with a lot of the components and reoutfitted. You just have to have an imagination. Even old records or discs can be turned into clocks or if you melt them over a coffee can into flower pots. Then you can turn around and sell them. Just a thought.
Why are all these fools paying for someone to re-cycle these items? It should be the other way around or at least taken for free. Re-cycle means they will re-use or refurbish then re-introduce into use probaly through re-sale which brings a profit to the company re-cycling them.
If its a matter of disposing of contaminated parts wouldn't items left in the re-cycle area of the dump stations be properly disposed of by the FNSB? Certainly the FNSB would not illegally dispose of items containing toxic materials left in this area at the dump stations.
wow!!! I didnt know it was that expensive! GEEEEE WHIZZZZ!!!! NO thanks!
Let me add that your cost to re-cycle elctronic's is MUCH cheaper than the lower 48. Cost me $35.00 to take my microwave oven (that cost me $50.00 seven years ago) to the re-cycle center. Sears would of charged me $40.00 to take the non working one to the center themselves. Thats just for a microwave, a small one.
It is expensive yes, so consider yourselves lucky to have the prices that you do in Fairbanks for the service.
Just where else you gonna go with them...DUMP THEM ALONG THE ROADSIDE?
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