January 27, 2007

AUGUSTA, Ga.---Typewriters, record players, computers, and cell phones.

We've all had them and we've all outgrown them.

A new environmental advocacy group called the CSRA Environmental Science Education Co-op, or ESEC, is protecting our environment from electrical toxic waste. Today they held an Electronics Recycling Day from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Fort Discovery.

It seemed everyone wanted to lend a helping hand.

Computers, monitors, cell phones, even an old record player were all ready to be stacked, taped, and loaded up

Everything here, 99% will be reused, recycled, shredded and made into new products," said Cheryl Wynn of ESEC. "We thought we'd provide a way for people in the CSRA to recycle electronics."

And it's a good thing they did...because once a landfill is full of gadgets like these, it becomes toxic.

"Only about one to four percent of a volume of a landfill is composed of electronics, but they estimate that up to 50 percent of heavy metal contamination comes from those electronics," Susan Boyd of ESEC told News 12.

The contamination comes from the heavy metals such as lead and mercury used inside electronic equipment. Every year an estimated 60 million computers and up to 130 million cell phones are thrown out. So ESEC decided it was time to spread the word about electronic recycling.

"This is a growing problem because people are replacing computers and cell phones much more frequently," Boyd said.

As you buy into the technology of the future, ESEC hopes you will now know what to do with the gadgets from the past...for the sake of your wallet and your neighbor.

"People don't really start to think about it until you have to start paying for it, and if you have to shift your waste across county lines and into somebody else's landfill, it will start costing you more," Boyd said. "But the other thing is, it's just good stewardship. It's just the good and the right thing to do."

ESEC plans to hold another electronic recycling day in July.

For more information you can visit their website by clicking here.