The Vermilion County Health Department will host a free electronics-collection event in late October.
The Vermilion County Health Department will hold a collection from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28 in the north parking lot of Danville Area Community College, 2000 East Main Street in Danville for all county residents.
Residents are encouraged to bring their broken, obsolete or unwanted televisions, monitors and other electronic items to the collection events so they can be recycled. Bryant Industries of Danville will process the items from the event.
“We strive to be a community partner in the cities and towns where we work and live,” said Bryant Industries CEO Mike Bryant. “These electronic products can no longer be taken to landfills in Illinois, so managing them properly is the right thing to do.”
The Oct. 28 Vermilion County event is jointly sponsored by Danville Area Community College, the Vermilion County Health Department, and Keep Vermilion County Beautiful, and is open to any County resident, including City of Danville residents. Proof of residency of those taking part in the collection will be checked. Vermilion County residents will be limited to a maximum combination of four televisions or computer monitors at the collection.
“We are happy to work with residents to properly recycle these types of electronics in an environmentally safe and responsible manner,” said Public Health Administrator Douglas Toole. “By doing so, many materials will be reused in the manufacturing of new products and potentially harmful chemicals will be diverted from landfills.” Toole can be reached at (217) 431-2662, ext. 243 for more information about the County event.
Bruce Rape, the Dean of Business and Technology at DACC, said that the college was looking to host a special electronics-collection event, and that college officials were eager to be involved.
“Encouraging environmental sustainability is a goal of the college, and we are happy to be part of the Oct. 28 event,” said Rape.
Keep Vermilion County Beautiful is also involved in the planning of the events, and will have representatives at the collection events accepting donations for future recycling and beautification events.
“These events are great opportunities to remove unwanted electronic items from storage and to have them processed or recycled,” said Brenda Adams, the Executive Director of KVCB.
Items accepted include CRT or flat screen televisions, CRT or flat screen monitors, cable boxes, satellite dishes, cell phones, computers, computer peripherals (keyboards and mice), printers, copiers, DVD players, fax machines, gaming consoles, laptops, PDAs, scanners, VCRs, wires, cameras, clocks, radios, vacuum cleaners and fans.
The collection will not accept household batteries, paint, motor oil, or large appliances.
A full list of items that will and will not be accepted can be viewed on the health department’s website, www.vchd.org.
It is now illegal in Illinois for electronic products such as televisions, computers, monitors, DVD players, fax machines and MP3 players to be disposed of in landfills.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, recyclers now recover more than 100 million pounds of materials from electronics each year, some of which can be converted into raw material for new products.
Some electronics can contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and beryllium that must be properly managed to prevent soil and groundwater contamination. But obsolete electronic products can also contain valuable materials that can be recycled for reuse such as copper, gold and circuit chips.
