Taking advantage of electronic waste day

Posted Feb 2, 2012 By Bill Freeman

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Tara Simpson and Daniel Lopez helped collect electronic waste material during a special

Bill Freeman, Campbellford EMC

Tara Simpson and Daniel Lopez helped collect electronic waste material during a special "Round Up" of household hazardous waste and electronic items collection day at the Asphodel-Norwood Community Centre hosted by Peterborough County's environmental services department.

EMC News -Norwood -Area residents took advantage of the Peterborough County household hazardous and waste electronics "Round Up," de-cluttering basements and garages that had become storerooms for items like paint tins, batteries, propane tanks and disused televisions, telephones, computers, printers and other electronic items.

The steady stream of vehicles was evidence that people were jumping at the opportunity to get rid of unwanted items in a safe and environmentally friendly way.

More people than ever are using special collection days and are much more aware of the hazard posed by no-longer-needed electronic equipment and household cleaners, fluids and items like that, says J.D. Coughlan, manager of electronics for Target Recycling, the Ajax-based company that conducted the collection for the county.

Since last May Target has collected over two million kilograms of electronic waste at their facility, Coughlan told the Northwest EMC.

"And there are a number of facilities in southern Ontario handling them."

"It's a real benefit to the en-vironment," he said. "That's a lot of potentially hazardous material that's been going to dumps for years."

"And it's really important for small communities where they may not have outposts to put material," Coughlan added.

"We're doing everything that's good for the environment as we possibly can as well as clearing out their basements and garages, stuff that's been stored up for years."

He said they also accepted things that were not in their stream at the moment like microwaves, air conditioners and water coolers.

"A lot of these we'd like to see come on to the program as we go forward. We will still take them and recycle them properly but they're not part of the program, it's just an added service we can do for people."

At some landfills a cable might get cut releasing freon into the atmosphere.

"That's one of the greenhouse gases that everyone talks about and we don't want to see that happen."