University staff and faculty, along with help from the local community, contributed last week to the largest collection of recyclable electronics in the four-year history of the e-Waste Recycling event.
An estimated 3,926 vehicles passed through the drop-off locations during the three-day event sponsored by the Office of Campus Sustainability. The community’s combined efforts resulted in the filling of 20 semitrailers with recyclable electronic waste, or approximately 300 tons collected and kept out of area landfills.
The general public, the largest contributor of recyclables, was responsible for filling 14 of the semitrailers, while nonprofits and organizations filled the remaining six. Popular items being recycled included large and small sizes of outdated television sets and large cathode-ray-tube computer monitors.
“Event turnout was the best ever,” says Barbara Hagan, sustainability administrator for the Office of Campus Sustainability. “The community’s involvement was instrumental to the success of this year’s event, and event volunteers and attendees had a great time working together. We are very pleased with the end result and look forward to the opportunity to offer this service next year.”
The 2011 e-Waste Recycling event surpassed last year’s collection of potentially hazardous electronic waste amounts by several tons and filled an additional two semitrailers. Actual collection numbers will be available in the following weeks atwww.ocs.umich.edu/ewaste.shtml.