Jackson River Enterprises’ semiannual e-cycling event will be held on Monday, Nov. 16, and Tuesday, Nov. 17, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in honor of National Recycling Day.
Bins will be available for residents to drop off e-cycling goods at the JRE location on 825 West Edgemont Drive.
Over the past six years JRE has collected over 50,000 pounds of electronic equipment that would have otherwise been landfilled.
According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Americans now own approximately 24 electronic products per household, including laptops, desktops, monitors, modems, printers, scanners, video games and DVD/VCR players, just to name a few.
It is estimated that over 2 billion computers will be in use by the end of 2020. Approximately 18 percent of discarded computers are recycled, and it is the only safe way to dispose of out-of-service computers.
Recycling reduces the amount of computer components that contain many toxic substances, like dioxins, polychlorinated bi-phenyls (PCBs), cadmium, chromium, radioactive isotopes and mercury. Computers and electronic equipment, if treated properly, are a valuable source for secondary raw materials; if not treated properly they are a source of toxins and carcinogens.
Most electronic waste is sent to landfills or incinerated, which releases hazardous materials such as lead, mercury or cadmium into the soil, groundwater and atmosphere, thus having a negative impact on the environment.
Information that is sensitive is always a concern when thinking about recycling your computer. You can go into your computer’s software and delete your information before you drop it off to be recycled, or simply remove the hard drive and destroy it.
Items that will be accepted include:
Laptop computers, desktop computers, hard drives, modems and plug and play devices. Also, printers, scanners, copiers, commercial telephone equipment and fax machines will be taken. You can bring power backups, power transformers and miscellaneous electronic business equipment.
JRE will also accept wires, cables, circuit boards, video game systems, VCR/DVD players and small electronic household appliances.
Also, JRE can only accept flat screen computer monitors and flat screen TV’s. JRE can no longer accept CRT style monitors and TVs.
If you have any questions or need more information, call Jackson River Enterprises at 962-3441.
The Virginian Review has been serving Covington, Clifton Forge, Alleghany County and Bath County since 1914.
