For the past several years, Worthington Libraries has partnered with RenTek to hold an electronics recycling event in the fall.
At the end of the four-hour period, an average of 4,600 pounds of e-waste – old or unwanted desktop PCs and laptops, tablets, phones, etc. – has been collected.
RenTek is a licensed and bonded quality electronics recycler with a purpose: It uses the discarded technology for job-force-development training for individuals with differing abilities and barriers to employment, and the amount of e-waste dropped off means more hours of job skills training is possible. The 4,780 pounds of e-waste gathered at the library’s 2019 event translated into 119 hours of training.
In 2020, the Worthington Libraries/RenTek partnership as the annual event prevented 9,627 pounds of e-waste from going to landfills and contributed to 240 hours of job-skills training.
As Apple, Microsoft and others continue to release their latest and greatest versions of smartphones, computers, etc., the struggle about what to do with the electronic devices you already have is real.
Clear some space as an electronics recycling event is planned at Northwest Library, 2280 Hard Road, on Nov. 6. Make room for new technology by dropping off old or unwanted desktop PCs and laptops, tablets, phones, printers, cables, gaming devices, cameras, large household appliances and much more from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the library’s parking lot.
Although most items may be recycled for free, a fee will be charged for such items as LCD/flat-screen televisions ($10 each), tube/projection televisions ($3 per inch), Mac all-in-one tube PCs ($50 each), CRT monitors ($30 each), printers/scanner/fax machines ($2 each) and large office copiers ($150 each).
Some items cannot be accepted for recycling, such as alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, 9v), hazardous materials, items containing freon, manuals/books, media (VCR/data tapes, CD/floppy disks), household appliances (blenders, coffee pots, curling irons, hair dryers, irons, vacuum cleaners), smoke detectors/fire extinguishers and speakers/TVs containing wood.
For a list of what will and will not be accepted at the Nov. 6 electronics recycling event, go to rentek.net/e-waste-recycling.