Thompson Falls to host annual E-Waste event June 17
Area residents will get the chance to properly dispose of their used electronics from 9 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. June 17 as the Sanders County Transfer Site in Thompson Falls hosts its annual E-Waste event.
Sponsored by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Sanders County and Oreo’s Refining of Missoula, the event is a way for Sanders County residents to dispose of “anything with a cord.”
The event is guaranteed to take place rain or shine and offers free disposal of all used electronics and includes certified data destruction for all devices.
“People say that the county should do more recycling, but we really are doing a lot,” Sanders County Recycling Coordinator Kathy Conlin said.
The event also hosts a challenge to see which area school can gather the most used electronics to be recycled, with the winning school receiving a certificate from the DEQ. According to Conlin, Thompson Falls has won the challenge every year.
Organizers of the event reported that 19,587 pounds of e-waste were collected at the event in 2014, while 12,559 pounds were collected in 2015 and 9,687 pounds were collected at last year’s event.
This year’s even will feature guest speaker Dusti Johnson of the Montana DEQ recycling program from 6:30-7:30 p.m. June 16 at the Sanders County Courthouse.
The event is just one part of the Sanders County recycling program, but Sanders County Recycling is temporarily suspended due to the baler being broken. The county is still taking clean, flattened cardboard, as it does not need to be baled, and will notify the public when the recycling program is back on track.
When the baler does come back on line, the county asks that people remember a few simple things before turning in materials to be recycled. People are asked to make sure that all cardboard that is turned in is clean, all plastics have been rinsed and that that tin cans should not be mixed in with aluminum ones. These simple things can greatly aid in the recycling process.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), e-waste is a growing concern in America and around the world.
Here are a few facts about e-waste:
- The United States produces more e-waste annually than any other country. The amount of electronics that Americans throw away every year is 9.4 million tons.
- Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by 3,657 U.S. homes in a year, according to the EPA.
- For every one million cell phones that are recycled, the EPA states that 35,274 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered.
- Only 12.5 percent of e-waste is recycled, according to the EPA.
- Based on e-waste disposal rates, Americans throw out phones containing over $60 million in gold and/or silver every year.
- Recycling circuit boards can be more valuable than mining for ore. One ton of circuit boards is estimated to contain 40-800 times more gold than one metric ton of ore. There is 30-40 times more copper in a ton of circuit boards that can be mined from one metric ton of ore.
- According to the United Nations, 20-50 million metric tons of e-waste are discarded every year.
- Old television sets as well as CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors contain approximately 4-8 pounds of lead, a neurotoxin. Improper disposal means this toxic substance can leach into the ground.
- It takes 530 pounds of fossil fuel, 48 pounds of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture one computer and monitor, according to the Electronics TakeBack Coalition.
- In 2014, 41.8 million metric tons of e-waste was shipped to developing countries, creating not only a dumping problem in those countries, but also utilizing resources to transport the waste to countries around the world.