County says law change will quadruple electronic recycling next year

After eight consecutive years of growth, Kane County's electronics recycling program plateaued for the first time in 2010. But new law changes may easily see recycling participation rates skyrocket by 400 percent in 2012, officials said Wednesday.

Only 625 cars visited the county's electronics recycling drop-off station in 2001. By 2010, 9,943 cars dropped off nearly 1.1 million pound of electronics. That means about 18 percent of the county's households bring their old computers and televisions to the recycling drop-off rather than leaving them curbside. But even that marked growth from 2001 was a slight dip from the 9,971 visitors in 2009. That change will likely be just the calm before the storm, said Gary Mielke, the county's recycling coordinator.

Mielke said a new law change will make it illegal for old electronic equipment to end up in landfills starting in January 2012.

“If you leave it on the curb, it won't be picked up,” Mielke said. “Starting next year, the people who make these items are going to be responsible for getting them recycled. That is a huge, huge change.”

It's so huge that Mielke expects the amount of electronics recycled will quadruple next year, mainly because manufacturers will be actively looking to hit recycling numbers on their sold goods for the first time. The way the law works will have each electronics manufacturer assigned a recycling goal based on sales volume and Illinois' recycling goals. The manufacturers will then contract with local recycling companies to hit that goal. In turn, the recycling companies will contract with collectors, such as Kane County, to actually obtain the material to recycle.

The good news for the environment is that means 100 percent of Kane County households will instantly become participants in the electronics recycling program. The good news for the county will be some monetary savings because manufacturers will pay some of the costs of the process.

However, the increased recycling demand will also necessitate the opening of more places to drop off electronics. Mielke told Kane County Board members Wednesday he believes at least six more drop-off locations are needed. Possible sites include East or West Dundee, Elgin and at least one site in Aurora.

The current site is the Circuit Court Clerk's office on Randall Road in St. Charles. It accepts electronics and some related items the second Friday and Saturday of each month.