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Nov. 7, 2011
For immediate release
For more information, contact:
Bonnie Prigge or Tammy Snodgrass, (573) 265-2993
Salem special waste collection nets 359 pieces of electronic waste
Over five tons of waste diverted from landfills
SALEM—Area residents participated in a region-wide special waste collection Oct. 15 in Salem. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., some 88 cars dropped off unwanted or worn out items including 80 televisions, 52 computer monitors and 34 desktop personal computers.
When the numbers were tallied, 11,000 pounds of electronics waste had been diverted from landfills and recycled. The collection was held at the City of Salem sewer/water construction department’s parking lot at Third and Grand in Salem.
The special waste collection was a partnership effort among the City of Salem, the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Meramec Regional Planning Commission.
Electronics, such as microwaves, VCRs, DVD players, speakers, scanners, laptops, fax machines, copy machines, and video game players were accepted free of charge. Televisions were the most popular item for recycling with 80 received.
A $5 fee was charged per television for households and $10 for businesses. Computer monitors cost $5 each. Computers were not accepted from businesses. The actual disposal cost of a television is $10, and the solid waste district subsidized half the cost through a grant.
Other electronics were accepted including 31 telephones, 28 printers, 21 keyboards and 18 radio/stereos.
MRPC contracted with Midwest Recycling Center to recycle the electronics.
The majority of those dropping off items at the collection were from Dent County. The remainder came from Crawford and Phelps counties.
The Ozark Rivers District includes Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties and their cities. The solid waste district is tasked with reducing by 40 percent the amount of waste generated for disposal. Using its tipping fee dollars, the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste District used a grant to help subsidize disposal costs and cover the costs of the collection, including staff time to coordinate the events and to advertise them.
Area residents that have questions about recycling contact Nongluk Tunyavanich at (573) 265-2993 or by email at nongluk@meramecregion.org.
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