Are you getting a new computer or VCR for Christmas?
Don’t toss the old units in the garbage just yet.
Rowan and several adjacent counties will combine for the first electronics recycling day on Jan. 20.
Rowan will join Cabarrus, Stanly, Iredell and Mecklenburg in working with a New Jersey-based company, UNICOR, which uses federal prison labor to tear down and salvage useable parts. The remains are melted down, leaving only a handful of metal.
Rowan Recycling Director Lori Sides is hoping for a mountain of old computers, printers, copy machines, monitors and keyboards. Materials will be collected at the Rowan County Fairgrounds from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 20.
Sides said many people hesitate to discard old electronic units. Instead they stash them away in a closet or in the attic, hoping to give them to someone who can use them. Industry estimates are that 75 percent of all computers sold so far in this country are now in attics, warehouses or other storage nooks.
And many businesses do the same.
“We get calls weekly from businesses who have changed out their old computers and want to find a use for them,” said Sides.
County recycling coordinators and landfill operators throughout the region have been working to find a way to keep the units out of landfills. The units can take up a lot of space, and most units have a small quantity of lead.
Industry projections say 300 million computers will become obsolete over the next five years. That could send millions of pounds of lead into landfills.
Sides said Rowan and other counties in the area have looked for a way to recycle , but it’s too expensive to be feasible on a county or regional level.
The recycling event on Jan. 20 is open to businesses as well as individuals. Sides said the event will be repeated if the response is good.
All computers, audio and video equipment, copy machines, printers and computer equipment will be accepted. Televisions, microwaves, washing machines or other large household appliances will not be accepted.
Businesses or individuals with a large number of computers or other electronic equipment should call 638-3078.
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