Kane County residents flood recycling event with electronics
Jose Salazar and his children each got new flat-screen televisions for Christmas, replacing the four bulky tube sets they've had for years.
"Of course we all wanted the new ones set up so I've had these sitting in the garage until I found a place that would take them," Salazar said as his pickup truck, filled with the old televisions, idled in a long line Saturday morning in the Randall Plaza Shopping Center parking lot near 540 S. Randall Road. "From where I am now, I think I've got about a half-hour to go. There's a lot of people who had the same idea I did."
Salazar, of Batavia, was one of several hundred Kane County residents waiting to discard old TVs and computer monitors at the county's first electronics recycling event of the season in St. Charles.
Saturday's drop-off event at the county traffic court building was likely the last time residents are able to get rid of their bulky TVs for free.
The county board is considering a proposal at its May meeting to establish a TV recycling fee.
County officials had forewarned residents to expect long lines and some new rules for dropping off items. And they were right, as the occasional horn honked and hand gestures flew as traffic navigated congested Randall Road intersections at both Lincoln Highway and Prairie Street.
St. Charles police, however, said the event ran smoothly with no traffic incidents.
Within the past year, four Kane County communities have opted to stop collecting electronics - Batavia, Geneva, and St. Charles and West Dundee (which closed as of Friday) - leaving the county's special recycling events as the only option for residents to dispose of obsolete electronics for free.
About a year ago, county residents had six options for electronics recycling, including permanent drop-off locations in West Dundee and St. Charles and the countywide recycling events on the second Saturday of each month from April through November.
Kane County is one of only four Illinois counties with an electronics recycling program of any kind, according to Jennifer Jarland, Kane County's recycling program coordinator. The scarcity of recycling programs largely is attributed to inadequate funding from an industry fee to cover the cost. Since 2009, old TVs and 16 other electronic items have been banned from landfills.
Location: 540 S Randall Road, St. Charles
Time: 8 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday of the month from April to November
Items collected:
• May 14, July 9, Aug. 13, Sept. 10, Oct. 8: electronics, books
• June 11, Nov. 12: electronics, books, free document shredding and latex paint for a per can fee
For more information, visit countyofkane.org/Recycling.