EVANSVILLE — Vanderburgh County residents have two more days this week to take their old electronics to a local business and have them recycled for free.
C & I Electronics, 1700 N. Lafayette Ave. in Evansville, has been offering the program for about three years. Scott Dill, C & I co-owner and president, said program is a good way for individuals to easily recycle, noting that most of his business is done with other businesses.
“It’s really for the community, to give them access to recycling because we know we need to make it as easy as possible for people to
recycle. People are busy,” Dill said. “If it’s too hard or too expensive for people to recycle, they’re just not going to do it.”
Accepted items this week include computer monitors, televisions and other computer-related equipment. Items will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Microwaves, copiers and other appliances cannot be accepted.
C & I also offered the program for a week in December. Both weeks were chosen by design, Dill said. During that first week, Dill estimated workers collected about 22,000 pounds of discarded electronics, an amount he expects to match this week as well.
“There are some optimal times in the year when (people) may be shedding off an excess electronics, especially around Christmas. So we have one before Christmas, and we have one after Christmas.”
For those Vanderburgh County residents who have unwanted electronics around, but won’t be able to bring them in during the next two days, they can still drop them off at C & I on other days for a small fee.
In addition the Vanderburgh County Solid Waste District will hold similar free electronic recycle days in the Civic Center twice during 2013 — on May 11 and in September. C & I partners with the solid waste district for these two events, too.
Even with two opportunities for the last few years, both days remain “extremely popular, said Joe Ballard, the executive director of the Vanderburgh County Solid Waste Management District. Each day, he said, has consistently drawn about 900 cars for the past few years.
“There has always been two days (a year) for the last several years. We started out doing one day, and we got swamped,” Ballard said. “Then we decided to do the one in the fall, and we still got swamped.”
Ballard said people are still turning in their old, bulkier televisions for recycling. He even took a television himself to C & I on Tuesday to take advantage of what the company has dubbed as Electronic Recycling Week.
“They’re still laying around,” Ballard said of the older televisions, some of which date back to the 1970s, “either stuck in the basement or being used as a cabinet or something like that with a flat-screen TV nearby.”
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