The City of Knoxville is partnering with several organizations including the Optimist Club of West Knoxville and the Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad to host a "Plug into Your Community" computer recycling event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on January 23, at Chilhowee Park.
The event is a drive-thru, drop off and leave event - meaning residents won't even have to get out of their vehicles to recycle old computers, laptops and some other electronic items. The event will take place rain, snow or shine.
This free electronic waste collections event gives people a chance to properly dispose of electronics items that contain hazardous materials and keeps computer equipment from taking up space in landfills.
Recycling electronics also allows for the salvage of materials that can be re-used in the manufacture of new electronic products, which helps the environment by reducing the need for raw materials in the process.
Acceptable items include: computer equipment like PC systems, CPUs, monitors, mice, keyboards, printers, scanners, laptops, modems, hard drives, speakers, power cords, cables, phones, power strips, desktop copiers, fax machines, and cell phones.
These items may contain significant amounts of hazardous metals. Some switches and relays, for instance, may contain mercury and printed circuit boards and monitors may contain metals like lead, chromium, cadmium and mercury.
Unacceptable items include: microwaves, electronic equipment containing hazardous chemicals, small refrigerators, stoves, appliances, scrap metal, aluminum cans, cardboard and paper.
There is no charge to drop off your old computer and other related electronic devices but donations will gladly be accepted and will benefit the Optimist Club of West Knoxville and the Volunteer Rescue Squad.
Other sponsors of the event include WBIR-TV, Best Buy, WUOT-91.9 FM, Southeast Recycling Technologies Inc., Knox County's Solid Waste Department and, B97.5
Residents participating will be eligible to enter to win a wide screen TV from Best Buy.
This has been a popular event in the past and has expanded to two dates this year because of the interest in recycling these items. Last year, more than 3,000 city and county residents took the opportunity to recycle their outdated computers at Farragut High School and Chilhowee Park by dropping off 212 tons of computers and peripherals.
According to John Homa, Solid Waste Project Manager for the City of Knoxville, recycling those materials is the equivalent to saving the energy use of 14 households a year, saving 1410 barrels of oil, 65,370 gallons of gasoline, and removing emissions from the air of 115 vehicles for a year.
If residents can't take advantage of this year's "Plug Into Your Community" event they may still recycle their old computers for free at the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center at 1033 Elm St. during regular business hours.