The
Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO) is pleased to announce that its
Residential Electronics Recycling Program will remain operational throughout
the entire year of 2017.
Earlier
this year, the Agency had successfully secured contracts with qualified
recyclers to continue to operate the program with no direct cost to Lake County
Residents.
“SWALCO
has been effective in our efforts to maintain this very popular program, we are
committed to recycling electronics and our residents have responded to create
the most successful program in the State” said SWALCO Chairman Glenn Ryback,
Mayor of the Village of Wadsworth.
Ryback added, “Through the hard work of the SWALCO staff and the
voluntary efforts of our members and townships we have been able to keep this program
running.”
According
to Peter Adrian, SWALCO’s Recycling Coordinator “The City of Highland Park, the
Village of Grayslake and the Townships of Cuba and Grant have been instrumental
serving Lake County as regional collection sites. In 2016 these four sites have shouldered the
burden of collecting nearly 4 million pound of consumer electronics.” Adrian added, “SWALCO is taking the lead in
long term planning for establishing a stable statewide electronics recycling
program for 2018 to 2020. We are working closely with State legislators,
product manufactures and the electronics recycling industry to amend the
current State law so to establish permanent collection opportunities statewide
while also assisting Lake County municipalities in developing alternative
collection options through their municipal waste and recycling service contractors.”
Under
the State of Illinois Electronic Products Recycling and Reuse Act, local
government is not required to provide collection services, but since the law was
first implemented in 2010 numerous county and municipal governments have
provided collection services and residents have relied on those programs to
comply with the law which bans TVs, printers, computers and 15 other electronic
devices from disposal into landfills.
For
2017, Lake County residents should continue to use the four collection sites
located in Highland Park, Grayslake, Grant Township and Cuba Township. Information on the location and hours for the
collection sites can be found on the website, www.swalco.org.
SWALCO
will continue to evaluate its options to sustain this very successful recycling
program, and do its best to keep the public informed about the status of the
program.
|