Hoarders of electronic waste will have the opportunity to spring-clean out their overused equipment while helping K-State beat KU in a recycling contest.
On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the K-State Department of Environmental Health and Safety is joining forces with PSC Environmental Services and Howie’s Recycling and Trash Service to host the third annual Electronic Waste Collection Event. It will be held in the parking lot across from West Stadium and next to St. Isidore’s Catholic Student Center, 711 Denison St.
Kelly Greene, hazardous waste manager for DEHS, said that those with donations will drive through the parking lot and be asked a couple of basic questions about their electronics, as well as how they found out about the collection event.
“We have people to unload everything,” Greene said.
Acceptable donations include cell phones, laptops, printers, fax machines, calculators, stereos and more. Business and university electronics are not accepted, as well as household appliances such as refrigerators. Anybody who wishes to donate their electronics should make sure to remove any personal information from their devices.
The event is usually held in April to coincide with Earth Day, but was moved up this year so that the electronic waste could be added to K-State’s total in the collegiate RecycleMania competition. RecycleMania is an annual contest held at colleges and universities nationwide to see who can collect the most recyclable materials. Last year, K-State placed 153rd out of the 273 participating institutions with a recycling rate of 26.73 percent. K-State has participated in the eight-week long competition since 2009.
According to the RecycleMania website, as of Wednesday night, K-State is second in the Pounds per Capita Classic category within the Big 12 with 8.508 pounds. KU is last in the conference with 1.826 pounds. This is the final week of competition and the results will be submitted the following week.
While Greene said she is hoping to receive around 13,000 pounds of electronic waste, she said she is just thankful that there are enough donations and funding to host the event.
“I’m just glad that we can do it,” Greene said.
Any costs incurred from the recycling will be covered by K-State, partially through donations and Howie’s. The collection will occur rain or shine and all collected items will be recycled in the U.S.
