Kane County, Illinois, suspends electronics recycling program

In an article in the Chicago Tribune, Kane County, Illinois, has announced it will be suspending its electronics recycling program indefinitely because of an overwhelming influx of electronics received at a May collection event. At the event, 140,000 tons  of electronics were collected, about 80 percent of which consisted of TVs.

“We filled six and a half 53-foot trailers to the brim, from top to bottom and front to back,” Jane Jarland, the county’s recycling coordinator, told the Tribune. “It was unmanageable. There were far too many people attending to possibly serve.” 

Similar incidents are occurring throughout the state as people get rid of their old TVs to replace them with new TVs. While state law requires manufacturers to pay a portion of recycling costs, the amount of TVs recycled far exceeds the money manufacturers are contributing, Jarland said. 

She was unable to give an estimation of when the electronics recycling program would resume, the Tribune reports. Possible solutions, such as reopening previously closed drop-off locations or establishing new facilities, are being investigated. 

The Kane County Recycles webpage offers a list of alternative recycling locations for residents in the interim, though recycling TV sets may require an additional fee, Jarland told the newspaper. 

Kane County is continuing to run its other recycling programs, according to the Tribune, along with the annual Recycling Extravaganza, which will be held Saturday, June 11, 2016. Electronics will not be accepted, however.