Is an electronics drop off site ahead for Libertyville?
Libertyville officials are considering a local option for area residents who want to safely dispose of unwanted electronics.
Details are being worked out, but it appears the village will make space available during limited hours at its public works facility for drop offs. The intent is to provide a public service while also taking pressure off Lake County's five permanent electronics collection sites.
Twenty communities, including Libertyville at $2,500, recently contributed a total of $65,000 to keep those sites open through the end of the year.
“There are several reasons I think it's important for us to consider this,” said village Trustee Pete Garrity, who is the village's representative on the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County.
SWALCO pays the disposal costs for the year-round sites in Cuba and Grant townships, Grayslake, Highland Park and Waukegan, but could no longer afford to provide pickups for about a dozen other locations which have closed over the past two years.
“We need to explore different ways of doing this that makes sense,” said Walter Willis, SWALCO executive director.
Garrity suggested at a recent village board meeting that Libertyville serve as a satellite site with accumulated items periodically trucked to Grayslake. Trustees were open to the possibility but had several questions, including what it would cost the village and what would be the site's hours and months of operation.
“While I support recycling, there is no funding whatsoever to support this type of thing,” in the village budget, said Mayor Terry Weppler, noting that staff time will be required to keep the drop off area in order.
Trustee Rich Moras supported the idea but wanted more discussion.
“I think it's the right thing to do,” he said. “We have to figure how to get it in the budget.”
The matter was referred to the village board's special projects and buildings committee, chaired by Garrity, which could make a recommendation for the full village board to consider on May 24.
“I got a positive vibe from everybody,” Garrity said. “I think the board will look at it favorably.”
How it would work is to be determined. There also is some consideration of making the drop-off site available only for residents in the 60048 ZIP code and if so, how or if that would be monitored.
Meanwhile, Willis said the agency will be trying to educate residents on what electronics shouldn't be dropped off and give them other options. Items such as microwaves and toasters, for example, are not banned from landfills but result in added cost to SWALCO.
“We're going to list the things we don't want anymore,” Willis said. “We need to minimize the costs.”
State law bans electronics in landfills. Manufacturers are required to dispose of a given weight but heavy TVs and monitors account for a large portion of that. And since the value of commodities inside those devices has fallen, agencies like SWALCO lose money from recycling companies and have had to eliminate or limit collection sites and events.
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