Sustainable Salida recycling events diverted more than 140,000 pounds of electronics, appliances and hazardous waste from the Chaffee County Landfill over the past year. Some 66,000 pounds of old equipment was collected in just four hours during the May 2022 electronics- and appliance-recycling event at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds.
Sustainable Salida collected more than 28,000 pounds of electronics that are now being recycled by 3R Technology Solutions. This Commerce City-based company is certified for recycling by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The latest event, sponsored by Chaffee County, the Salida Chamber of Commerce, the Salida Business Alliance and Salida Businesses That Care, collected 20 percent more e-waste than the previous electronics recycling event held in September 2021.
The September 2021 event was also a hazardous waste collection event. It collected more than 25,000 pounds of toxic materials like paint and solvents that can poison wildlife and impair water quality if improperly disposed of in landfills.
Recycling toxic substances can be costly, and with that knowledge, Chaffee County helped fund the collection event, inviting responsible Chaffee County residents to clean out their garages, and safely dispose of hazardous and toxic materials. Clean Harbors, a company that specializes in industrial and hazardous waste remediation, provided the expertise to safely dispose of the hazardous materials.
The May 2022 event saw a full range of electronics and appliances collected:
Photo by Sigmund. Courtesy of Unsplash.
- Ovens
- Dishwashers
- Washing machines
- Dryers
- Refrigerators
- Freezers
- Microwave Ovens
- Computer Monitors
- Computers
- Lawnmowers
- Vehicle batteries
- Water heaters
- Charcoal grills
- Televisions
The recycling organizers have assured residents that all computer hard drives collected at the electronics recycling events are shredded to ensure data privacy.
Because of shortages of some precious metals, scientists are encouraging electronics recycling to meet demands for those materials instead of new mining, which causes environmental degradation (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61350996).
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