County, Businesses Partner on Electronics Collection Event

United Recycling Industries Inc., the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, Ill., and Motorola are sponsoring a one-day electronics recycling collection event for Lake County residents Sept 29 at Motorola’s Libertyville facility from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

There is no charge to Lake County residents to drop off electronics equipment. The county will subsidize the cost of the event, said Peter Adrian, recycling coordinator for SWALC.

“We have been subsidizing the cost of the collection programs so we try to limit it to Lake County residents,” he said. “I think that with the climate in electronics recycling it has been increasingly difficult.”

The county will subsidize the cost of the event, as it has others such as a Best Buy collection event, to try to increase participation. “Our residents are not inclined to pay for disposal,” Adrian said. “We have no bans on equipment disposal. We are going to do some surveys at this programs and ask how much you are willing to pay.”

Motorola is donating use of its facility, including loading docks and a forklift and driver. Adrian said their facility lends easily to this type of event as they have a large property that can handle the expected 300 to 400 cars dropping off goods.

United Recycling Services, West Chicago, Ill., will provide staff to oversee the event and will be recycling the materials collected.

United Recycling has also worked with North Cook County on two similar collection events also in conjunction with Motorola. About 50,000 to 60,000 pounds of material were collected at each of those events, said Bob Glavin, president of United Recycling. United Recycling staffed both events, held at Motorola’s Arlington and Libertyville, Ill., plants, while the solid waste agency provides volunteers and publicity.

Materials accepted at the event include:

* Computer equipment-CPUs, monitors, keyboards, mice, cords/cables, modems, laptops, mainframes, hard drives, printers, CD-rom drives, palm organizers, Gameboys, video games, and joy sticks.

* Home electronics and appliances-TVs, VCRs, laser disc players, camera, camcorders, radios, speakers, portable CD players, blenders, mixing machines, coffee makers and others.

* Office equipment-typewriters, word processors, copy machines, fax machines, adding machines, postage machines, scanners, paper shredders, phones, answering machines, cell phones, pagers and two way radios.

* Items not accepted include: microwaves, air conditioners, humidifiers/dehumidifiers, irons, lamps and other electric fixtures and large appliances.

Adrian said the county is also considering alternatives to one-day drop-off events, such as municipal collection in conjunction with local haulers or possible a permanent drop-off location. “Ideally, it would be nice to have a curbside program or maybe a waste hauler to have a monthly service,” Adrian said.