Charleston County News Release

MEDIA CONTACT

Name:   Jennie Davis, Charleston County Public Information Officer

Phone: 843.958.4012

Email:   jdavis@charlestoncounty.org

Release Number: 2944

Date: November 19, 2008

See photo of EPA grant check presentation: http://www.charlestoncounty.org/NewsImages/swr.htm

1,331 Items Collected During Electronic Recycling Day
       Charleston County collected numerous old computers, TVs, telephones, etc. during its first-ever Electronic Recycling Day.

Charleston County’s Solid Waste and Recycling Department held an Electronic Recycling Day event on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Citadel Mall to coincide with America Recycles Day.

The first-time event was a success for the County. A total of 236 vehicles drove up with electronics to recycle, and 1,331 items were collected.

During Electronic Recycling Day, residents had the opportunity to drop off their old, non-working or unused electronics to be recycled.

The following 1,331 items were collected during Electronic Recycling Day, and all of these items will be recycled:

• 423 Computers                
• 186 Telephones              
• 135 Keyboard and mouse sets
• 134 Computer monitors            
• 95 Printers                     
• 77 VCR and DVD players        
• 74 TVs
• 53 household batteries (will be given to Batteries Plus for recycling)
• 51 cell phones (will be given to Pak Mail to help raise money for the U.S. troops)
• 49 Stereos                     
• 18 Scanners                  
• 7 Adding machines           
• 7 Camcorders                  
• 7 CD Players                   
• 7 Fax machines              
• 6 Calculators                   
• 3 Shredders                   
• 90 other items not categorized

Residents in each car that dropped off electronics were eligible to win a raffle for a 20-inch, flat screen, Trutech TV provided by Target. The winner of the TV is Cathy Badger of Charleston.

A total of 24 people helped to staff the event, including four County staff members who work at the Bees Ferry Landfill and 19 volunteers. The volunteers were from Viamedia Knology, Earth Force, and the East Cooper Regional Medical Center’s Green Team. The volunteers helped unload electronics, direct traffic, register people to win the TV raffle, and hold signs with information about electronic recycling.

Charleston County’s Solid Waste and Recycling Department, Knology, the Citadel Mall and Target hosted the event.

Citizens who did not attend the Nov. 15 event can recycle their electronics during regular business hours at one of the eight Charleston County solid waste convenient centers open to the public:

• Adams Run – 8326 Old Jacksonboro Road, 29426
• Awendaw – 6380 Maxville Road, 29429
• Bees Ferry (West Ashley) – 1344 Bee’s Ferry Road, 29414
• Downtown Charleston – Charleston County Recycling Center, 13 Romney Street, 29403
• Edisto Island – 2844 Highway 174, 29438
• Hollywood – 5305 Highway 165, 29449
• McClellanville – 1775 River Road, 29458
• Wadmalaw Island – 1558 Liberia Road, 29487

 Hours of operation are as follows:

Convenience Center Hours
Monday-Friday: 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sunday and Wednesday: 1 - 7 p.m.

Bees Ferry Convenience Center
Monday-Friday: 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sunday and Wednesday: 1 - 7 p.m.

Charleston County Recycling Center
13 Romney Street
Monday-Friday: 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Closed Saturday and Sunday

Why is it important to recycle old electronics? Electronic devices often consist of valuable resources such as precious metals (gold or silver), more common metals (aluminum and copper) and engineered plastics. Electronic recycling helps to recover these valuable materials while also conserving energy and landfill space.

 The following are examples of electronics that can be recycled:

• Adding machine
• Cable box
• Calculator
• Camcorder
• Clock
• Computer (including monitor, keyboard, mouse, hard drive, as well as laptops)
• Copy machine
• DVD player
• Fax machine
• Microwave
• Printer
• Scanner
• Shredder
• Radio/Stereo (including cassette players and CD players)
• Telephone (including cell phones and cordless phones)
• TV
• Remote control
• VCR
• Video game console and accessories

For more information on recycling, contact the Charleston County Solid Waste and Recycling Department at (843) 720-7111 or visit http://recycle.charlestoncounty.org.

 SIDEBAR

At the Nov. 15 event, Charleston County staff got a lot of questions from citizens wanting to know where their items would be sent to be recycled:

• Charleston County Solid Waste and Recycling is permitted through the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to recycle electronics within the U.S., and to not ship any product overseas.
• All parts of the electronic item are to be recycled, but in the case that a part may not be able to be reused or recycled, the part is to be discarded within the U.S. in a landfill within the U.S. only.
• The mandatory hierarchy of management methods for electronic recycling is reuse of electronic equipment and components; de-manufacture items and recycling equipment of components for material recovery; shredding for reuse or recycling; management of components for energy recovery, when appropriate and applicable; shredding for disposal; destruction of hazardous and non-hazardous components via incineration; or disposal of solid waste and/or hazardous waste components via land filling.