Hazleton, Pennsylvania, e-recycling event successful

According to an article in The Standard Speaker, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, organizers of an electronics recycling event held on Hazleton’s south side Thursday, July 28, 2016, considered it a success. 

“Approximately 300 cars came through,” Mayor Jeff Cusat, who organized the event with city Health Officer Ellie Lorenz and Hazleton City Authority representatives, told the newspaper. “We filled almost four full-size moving trucks with electronics and appliances.” 

City officials secured a $5,000 state grant to host the event, and the authority contributed another $4,300. The event, which was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., kicked off a half-hour early when the line started to form at 2 p.m. Residents paid $10 per carload of electronics, with an additional $10 being charged for larger devices. The last vehicle unloaded at 6 p.m., the Speaker reports. 

“Nobody made money off this,” Cusat says in the article. “I don’t think they realize we had to pay for the trucks. The money that was collected today was significantly less than what is required at a recycling event. Between the grant money, the money the HCA contributed and the money we raised today, we’re hoping that we came close to breaking even.”