The solid waste services division here hosted its first waste electronics recycling event at three locations on Oct. 17.
Officials were pleased to note that more than 1,200 vehicles came to the three locations and delivered an estimated 120,000 pounds of waste electronics that will be recycled by Greentec International in Cambridge, Ontario.
In addition to recycling electronics, residents demonstrated generosity by bringing 1,921 pounds of non-perishable food items and another $1,413.64 in cash donations for three of the county’s food banks in Centre Wellington, East Wellington, and North Wellington.
“We expected it to be busy, but the response from the public was incredible,” said Cathy Wiebe, administration supervisor for solid waste services. “We are extremely pleased that residents of the county … took the opportunity to drop off their old electronics to ensure they go for recycling, instead of taking up space in a landfill site.”
Due to the response, there were some residents that were unable to wait in the line-ups or arrived too late to be able to access the events. For those who were disappointed, alternative locations to drop off used computers and televisions are available on the dowhatyoucan.ca website. In April 2010, the list of acceptable items at many of those locations will be expanded to include other used electronics such as VCR’s, cameras, stereos.
For those electronics that are still in good working condition, consider dropping them off to charitable organizations for resale or reuse, to county reuse centres for reuse, or selling them at a garage sale.
Given the success of this first event day, it is expected that another event will occur in the fall of 2010. Information will be widely promoted on www.wellington.ca, the County Page in the Wellington Advertiser, coming events sections of local papers, and in the Wellington Solid Waste News a Newsletter delivered quarterly to each residence in the County. Solid waste services staff thanked everyone for making their first electronics recycling event and food bank drive a huge success.
