The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Departments announce disposal, recycling dates
Solid Waste District holding dedicated collections with extended hours
Several popular recycling collections will be available this year for Lake County residents.
Continuing a tradition started years ago, several popular recycling collections will be available this year for Lake County residents, the Lake County Solid Waste Management District announced last week.
In fact, to meet big turnouts and the high demand for electronics and television recycling, the district this year has two dedicated collections and with extended hours.
In addition to the district, the Lake County Department of Utilities and county commissioners as well as the Lake County Ohio State University Extension sponsor the collections. All the collections will be held at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Painesville Township and are specifically for residential customers.
Items from commercial, business or industrial customers will not be accepted.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time,” said county Sanitary Engineer Randy Rothlisberger. “It’s great for the county and the environment, and keeps a lot of things not only out of the landfill, but out of the sewers. A lot of hazardous waste gets put down sewers and these collections give us an opportunity to dispose of them properly.
“We’re really happy with these collections and we believe they will be as successful as they have in the past.”
According to the county, the Electronics Collection will be held on April 25 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and
Aug. 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Most corded and rechargeable household electronics, including computers and computer-related devices, will be accepted. Officials confirm all memory components on personal and computer-related devices will be professionally erased or destroyed prior to being processed and recycled.
The Scrap Tire Collection will be held on May 2 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Residents are permitted to bring six car or lighttruck tires without rims free of charge. Fees apply for the disposal of additional tires — $2 per tire without rims; $4 per tire with rims; and $10 per oversized tire. Only cash or personal checks will be accepted.
The Television and CRT Monitor Collections will be held on May 9 and Aug. 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Flat/LCD/plasma TV or computer screens, any size, are accepted free. Fees apply for tube televisions and CRT TV monitors based upon the screen size.
Screens up to 21 inches will cost $5 and screens 22 inches and larger will cost $10 — this also applies to both projection and console televisions of any size. Only cash or personal checks will be accepted.
In past years, television collections have been overwhelming, with waits sometimes totaling 90 minutes, Rothlisberger said, noting the frequency of upgraded models many households purchase.
“It’s gone down a little bit each year, but we want to make sure we don’t run into that again, where people are trying to do what we’re asking as far as keeping them out of the landfill, so we want to move them along as quickly as we can with two collections.”
The Household Hazardous waste collections will be held on June 6 and Sept. 26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Officials are encouraging residents to remove hazardous substances from their garages, sheds, basements, closets, bathrooms, and kitchen pantries, thereby reducing confusion, abuse and wrongful disposal of the unwanted substances down the drain or in the trash.
All household hazardous waste collected during these events will be recycled or destroyed safely by neutralization or incineration, the county reports. No fees associated with this collection.
Solid Waste District Coordinator Tim Gourley noted that while it’s difficult put a financial number to the benefit of the collections, the general impact holding them remains vast.
“By removing electronic waste, our homes are cleaner and these materials are recycled instead of put into the ground,” he said. “By removing harmful chemicals, homes are safer for children and adults, and by removing scrap tires, the environment has less mosquitos which makes people safer and more comfort.
“The collections dispose of difficult waste properly which is critical to the environment and overall health of our community.”