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Electronics Recycling 2008
Green Star no longer hosts an annual Electronics Recycling Event. Instead, see the appropriate category below for convenient electronics recycling near you.
BusinessesBusinesses can drop off electronics at Total Reclaim's facility in Huffman Business Park or call Total Reclaim to schedule a pick up. The fee for businesses is $18/monitor (CRT computer monitors only) and 35¢/lb for all other items, with an additional pick-up fee of $35-65/visit.
Total Reclaim also is offering an opportunity for larger Green Star Awardees to host their own event. If your business has more than ~50 employees, consider contacting Total Reclaim to set up in your parking lot to accept both the business electronics as well as household electronics from employees. Total Reclaim also can arrange to accept other items, such as fluorescent lamps and batteries, during the event. Call Total Reclaim at 561-0544 to make arrangements. Total Reclaim, Inc.* *Total Reclaim has signed the Basel Action Network's Electronic Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship, the most rigorous criteria for sustainable and socially just electronics recycling. Business also can drop off electronics for recycling at the Anchorage Regional Landfill's Hazardous Waste Center during regular landfill hours. Fees at the landfill are $30-$35 for a monitor and 50¢/lb for all other electronics.
428-1742 Households
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| Dates | Location | TRI Warehouse also open that day |
| April 12 | Chugach Optional School 1205 E Street |
yes
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| May 3 | CANCELLED UAA (STUDENTS ONLY) CANCELLED |
no
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| May 3 - 10 | Mountain View |
yes, on May 10
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| May 10 | Romig Middle School 2500 Minnesota Drive |
yes
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| June 14 | Service High School 5577 Abbott Road |
yes
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| July 21 | East High School 4025 E. Northern Lights Blvd. |
yes
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| August 9 | Dimond High School 13400 Elmore Road |
yes
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| September 13 | unknown |
yes
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| October 11 | Bartlett High School Tentative 1101 N. Muldoon Road |
yes
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At the drop-off events, the fees will be as follows:
| Item | Fee |
| Printers/Faxes | $10 |
| CPUs | $10 |
| Stereo equipment | $10 |
| Flat LCD screens/laptops | $10 |
| CRT Monitors | $15 |
| TVs | $25 |
| Entire Computer system (monitor, CPU, keyboard, mouse, cables) |
$25 |
| Cell phones | no charge |
Total Reclaim's regular drop-off will cost residents $18 for monitors and 35¢/lb for all other items.
Nonprofits
Thanks to the Rasmuson Foundation, Alaskan non-profit organizations can recycle their electronics waste at a reduced price through June 2009. The goal of Rasmuson’s assistance to non-profit organizations is to reduce the cost burden on non-profits as they work toward budgeting for managing scrap electronics in an environmentally safe manner.
The three-year plan also provides flexibility in where and when non-profits recycle. Non-profits can bring electronics to a local recycler, paying full price up front (typically 30¢ to 55¢ per pound). The non-profit will receive a receipt from the recycler, which can then be submitted to Green Star for reimbursement of part of the cost. During the first year of the program, non-profits will receive back 30¢ per pound. In year 2, the discount will be 25¢ per pound and in year 3, 20¢ per pound.
Reimbursement Rate Schedule
Oct. 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007 ... 30¢/lb
July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008 ... 25¢/lb
July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009 ... 20¢/lb
The discount is available for 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organizations. Non-profits with budgets of more than $3 million are ineligible for the program. Please contact Green Star if you are not sure that your organization qualifies.
Below is a list of recyclers in Anchorage that will accept electronics from non-profits. Call the individual recyclers for details about pick-ups and the associated fees if interested.
Anchorage Regional Landfill, Eagle River
428-1742
Total Reclaim, Inc.
12101 Industry Way, Unit C4 (Huffman Business Park)
561-0544
Volunteering
Thank you to all of the volunteers who made it possible to host monthly neighborhood drop-off events for households in 2007! We will soon be recruiting for volunteers for the 2008 events.
What is Accepted?
Accepted: televisions, computer monitors, computers/laptops, keyboards, mice, modems, external drives, small scanners, printer, copy machines, cables, other computer peripherals, VCRs, DVD players, stereos, radios, phones, fax machines, camcorders, electric typewriters, microwave ovens, and most media (floppies, CDs, DVDs), telephones, cell phones, and similar products.
Not accepted: video and audio cassette tapes, smoke detectors, loose batteries, vacuum cleaners, and household electric appliances without circuit boards.
Where Does It All Go?
(this section will be periodically updated)
Once received, equipment is sorted onto pallets by type: monitors and TVs together, computers CPUs together, and peripherals, small items and media together in large boxes.
When the boxes and pallets are full, they are weighed, recorded, and stacked into 40-foot trailers using forklifts. The trailers are moved to the Port of Anchorage for shipment to the electronics recycler (Total Reclaim, Inc.) in Seattle, Washington.
Once the materials reach Seattle,Total Reclaim, Inc., sorts all of the materials for reuse or recycling.
About 10% will be reused. Reused equipment is donated to either World Computer Exchange or Digital Partners, two non-profit organizations that re-deploy usable equipment to non-governmental organizations and educational programs in the developing world.
About 90-95% (by weight) of the remaining equipment will be recycled into new products. These materials are crushed and sorted.
Glass
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Chunks of leaded glass from computer monitors and television screens await transport to Envirocycle, Inc. in Pennsylvania. |
Glass grit from the grinding process will be sent to Doe Run, in Missouri, for use in the lead smelting process. |
The video display component of most computers monitors and televisions is a cathode ray tube (CRT). The typical CRT contains 15 to 90 pounds of glass. To this glass, lead and other elements are added to protect the user from X-rays generated within the CRT. Disposal in landfills is not the most sound management option for waste CRTs because of the high quantities of lead in each screen. Glass recyclers are:
EnviroCycle, Inc. – Hallstead, PA – made back into leaded glass for monitors and TVs
All intact monitors that Envirocycle receives are inspected for the possibility of resale. All other units are dismantled. The average processing time is two weeks. Within one month, the glass cullet is back into the commerce stream as a new CRT.
Doe Run Company – Boss, MO – lead smelter
Anything that cannot be used to make new CRT glass is sent to a primary lead smelter for reuse.
Jones Quarry, Inc. – Olympia, WA – non-leaded glass
Tri-Vitro Corporation (maybe) – Kent, WA – non-leaded glass
Metals
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Metal is separated using large magnets after being shredded. |
Copper is the primary metal found in wires and cabling. These items are baled and shipped to copper smelters for copper recovery. Circuit boards are ground and shipped to copper smelters as well. The copper and small amounts of precious metals are recovered and the other circuit board material is useful for its BTU value during metal recovery. Aluminum structural pieces are baled and sold to aluminum smelters. Steel housings are baled and shipped to ferrous smelters (foundries).
Seattle Iron and Metals – Seattle, WA – copper wire recycling
Schnitzer Steel Industries - Tacoma, WA
Circuit Boards
Noranda Recycling, – San Jose, CA
Umicore Precious Metals Refining - Hoboken, Belgium
Plastics
Plastics generated from electronics waste are primarily ABS (acrybutidiene styrene) from keyboards, monitors, and CPU housings, and HIPS (high density polystyrene) from televisions. HIPS is regranulated and sold to companies that pelletize it and reuse it in injection molding to make new consumer products such as televisions, handheld computer games and similar products. ABS plastics include about seven or eight different resin types. The ABS is cleaned and baled and sent to plastics recyclers. The companies below will either use the product commingled or separate it further by resin type and pelletize it for sale to end markets. Plastics can be used for a variety of new products including plastic lumber and pallets, carpet and carpet backing,
Plastic Nation, Inc. – Boca Raton, FL
Batteries
Allied Battery – Seattle, WA – recycling the lead-acid batteries
Inmetco – Ellwood City, PA – recycling all other batteries
Other Components
Items that will be discarded include wood and phenolic laminate common in old console televisions and insulation. This is estimated to be less than 1% of the material processed.
Sponsors & Partnering Organizations
This event is not possible without the generous support of our many sponsors and donors. Stay tuned as our list of sponsors grows.
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Photos courtesy of Brian Guzzetti, From the Far Corners Photography
Photos (top, left to right): Veco brings several truckloads of electronics to recycle. ~ Volunteers unload a truck. ~ Green Star staff assist Gabrielle Markel do the paperwork from the Girdwood collection effort. ~ Forklift drivers move around the collection area, loading pallets onto trucks ~ Volunteers load computers into boxes and onto pallets for transport. ~ A full pallet is weighed before loading.
Additional Links:
Green Star Award
Green Events
Green Star Schools
Site Assessments
Electronics Recycling
AK Materials Exchange
AME Listings
Made possible through generous support by:
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