Statewide e-Waste recycling event aims to prevent toxic pollutants from 100 tons of old electronic equipment from entering Virginia landfills, incinerators
September 28, 2007
The University of Richmond will join Hollins University in a free "e-waste" recycling drive Oct. 11-13 that aims to prevent toxic pollutants from 100 tons of old computers, accessories and other electronic equipment from entering the environment.
Schools, colleges, small businesses and non-profit organizations will be able to drop off old computers, cell phones, PDAs, camcorders, televisions, VCRs, fax machines, copiers, telephones and accessories at the two campuses, or request pick-up of large quantities, on Thursday and Friday of the project week. On the final day, a Saturday, the public can drop off household and personal electronics.
Many, but not all, electronics can be accepted. For a complete list of acceptable and unacceptable items and full information, see is.richmond.edu/ewaste/.
Organizers at the two campuses expect to collect more than 100 tons, preventing the lead, mercury, bromine and chlorine commonly used in manufacturing electronics from leaching into the environment through landfills or waste incinerators.
"Electronic waste contributes significantly to the serious issues facing our environment," said Kathy Monday, Richmond's vice president for information services. "We hope people will consider bringing in old electronic equipment to be recycled in an environmentally responsible way."
Discarded equipment will be transported from the campuses to a recycling facility, where the maximum amount of reusable materials will be salvaged. The facility complies with all laws and regulations concerning occupational health and guarantees complete removal and destruction of digitized personal information that might remain stored on hard drives or other media.
Organizations intending to drop off acceptable items Oct. 11-12 are asked to register online in advance at is.richmond.edu/ewaste/. Drop-off location in Richmond is the Robins Center parking lot on College Rd. For free pick-up of at least 10 pallets of old electronics, call or e-mail UR information systems staff members Caitlin Sasser (csasser@richmond.edu; 804-289-8467) or Wendy Burchard (wburchar@richmond.edu; 804-289-8785).
The public drop-off site on Oct. 13 will be the Modlin Center for the Arts parking lot on Crenshaw Way.
Drop-off sites will be open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. all three days. For directions and a campus map, see www.richmond.edu/about/directions/.