If it is time to relieve the closet of old televisions, computers, cameras, cell phones, vacuum cleaners, and other pieces of electronic equipment, now may be the time. An electronics recycling event is being held this Saturday, October 3 at the Central Peninsula Landfill in Soldotna.
KSRM spoke to ReGroup, one of the event organizers, about the plan: “Electronics recycling is what we usually do in the springtime, but because of the pandemic, we had to put it off. So, our accepted items are all computers, all electronics, and all vacuums. Servers, routers, stereos, audio equipment, cameras, and we cannot recycle auto and video tapes, CDs, DVDs, exit signs, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, fluorescent lights, and a few other things. If you know that, it’s really going to help us.””
There is a suggested donation of $15 for the recycling of computer monitors, LCD TVs, as well as older CRT tube TVs.
What is the process of an item being donated to its final destination of being recycled? “We send them up to Anchorage Central Recycling Services who breaks it down to a certain point, then it goes off to somewhere in the lower-48 to be broken down even more. There is so much that is recyclable in those electronics, especially the precious metals. The Olympic Games were supposed to have medals made from all-precious material recycled from electronics. How cool is that?”
For those worried about the security of giving up old hard drives, either separately or in old computers, the organizers of the event recommend visiting a local computer technician for assistance. Simply formatting the hard drive does not mean data cannot be recovered from it, but there are solutions to make the process safe and secure.
Another electronics recycling event is also being held this Saturday in Homer from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at Spenard Builders Supply.