CHARLESTON — Boxes full of televisions, computers, and other office equipment filled the Coles County Memorial Airport's west parking lot late Saturday morning as the electronics recycling drop-off event reached capacity in less than two hours.
The Coles County Regional Planning and Development Commission started at the scheduled time of 8 a.m., but many community members arrived early to ensure they could drop off their unwanted electronics items.
"We had people lined up when I get here at 7 a.m.," said Sarah Mummel, who is the solid waste coordinator and GIS technician for the commission. The event was set to continue until 1 p.m. or when the semitrailers there were full, whichever came first. It ended up concluding by 9:45 a.m.
Mummel said there was likely pent up demand for disposing of televisions and other electronics after the commission had to cancel its two drop-off events in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said spring cleaning was also likely a factor in the demand, noting that the spring 2019 drop-off event received a much larger volume of items than the fall event.
Approximately 275 vehicles went through Saturday's drop-off event before it closed and many of these vehicles contained multiple electronics items to be recycled, Mummel said. She noted that this was more per vehicle than usual.
There was a surprisingly large number of old-fashioned cathode-ray tube TVs dropped off on Saturday, Mummel said. There was a $5 fee for each TV and computer monitor recycled, with a total limit of seven.
Commission staff members and a team of volunteers helped load these items into boxes on pallets. Mummel said staff from Dynamic recycling from Wisconsin then used forklifts to load the electronics-laden pallets into the back of two semitrailers.
Mummel said the commission plans to schedule another electronic recycling drop-off event in the fall. In the meantime, she said community members can dispose of their televisions and computer monitors through COM2 Recycling Solutions in Charleston, for a fee. She noted that it is illegal to place TVs and monitors in landfills.
