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Kane County halts electronics recycling program

Overwhelmed by demand, Kane County has halted its free electronics recycling drop-off program.

The county will have its monthly recycling drive June 11 at the circuit court clerk's office in St. Charles, but TVs and other electronic items will not be accepted. That's because it can't handle another massive overload like it did in May, according to Jennifer Jarland, the county's recycling coordinator. She said 678 residents dropped off 150,000 pounds of electronics - mostly television sets - enough to fill six 53-foot trailers. Some people waited in line two hours, Jarland said, and many had to be turned away when the event ended.

The line of cars on Randall Road stretched well south of Route 38 by midmorning, and police were directing traffic into, out of, and past the drop-off.

Interest in the drop-off picked up in spring when satellite locations in St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia and West Dundee closed, and county officials said they planned to start charging for electronics recycling later this year.

Side effect

Some entities are already feeling the effects of changes in electronics recycling.

People who can't or will not pay for disposal have instead dumped their TVs near the Dumpsters at the Geneva Community Garden plots on Peck Road twice in the last month.

The park district's garbage hauler has charged the district up to $35 each time to dispose of the sets, according to Trish Burns, who manages the plots and nearby Peck Farm Park. People have dumped electronics at Peck Farm as well, she said.

Jarland said she suspects people are "freaking out" over the prospect of having to pay. "They are going to have to get over it," she said, and questions why people who just spent several hundred dollars on a new television set blanch at paying $25 to $50 to responsibly dispose of their old one.

As for abandoning them in parks and forest preserves, "Why put your toxic TV in a natural area?" she asked.

Other items

From 8 a.m. to noon June 11 the county will continue to collect other items as part of its annual "Recycling Extravaganza."

Residents can bring bicycles and related parts and accessories, sewing machines, books, four-foot residential fluorescent lighting tubes, wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, block plastic foam and foam food-service containers, packaging material and packing peanuts to be recycled. There will also be free document shredding. Latex paint can be dropped off for a fee.

Jarland is working on a plan to resume the electronics drop-off for a fee. The county board authorized charging $25 to $35 per television set. Part of bringing it back involves again establishing satellite locations to relieve the pressure on the monthly event in St. Charles, she said.

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Some of the 150,000 pounds of electronics - mostly TVs - Kane County residents disposed of at the May recycling collection. Courtesy of Kane County
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