Meramec Regional Planning Commission, with funding from the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District (ORSWMD), gathered 6.05 tons of residential scrap electronics, appliances and tires at the May 16 collection held in Salem. Approximately 91 vehicles from within the Ozark Rivers seven-county region – Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington – dropped off items at the collection. MRPC partnered with the city of Salem, who provided city staff who assisted with the collection. The city also provided the drop-off site at the Salem construction parking lot at the corner of third and grand. “We want to say thanks to the City of Salem and its staff for making this event possible,” said Bonnie Prigge, executive director at MRPC. “Partnerships like this are so valuable and so important for the region.”
Brady Wilson, chairman of the ORSWMD, says these special collections are valued not only as a convenience to local residents, but also as a way to reduce the environmental impact by keeping potentially toxic electronic waste out of landfills. “I believe the special collections are important to the residents of the communities within our region because it offers them an affordable option for properly disposing of, and recycling the items we tend to refer to as “orphan wastes” or those items that are difficult to find a home for,” Wilson said. “Whole tires and appliances are banned from landfills. In addition, these collection events help to gather these items which otherwise can often end up in county ditches and streams, thereby desecrating the local landscape and the environment.”
Tires were the most collected item with a total of 146 tires, amounting to 1.74 tons being diverted from landfills. The most frequently recycled electronic/appliance item was televisions with 49 being collected. Appliances and e-waste are handled by Midwest Recycling Center, a certified collection contractor, who distributes the collected items to either be refurbished or broken down to recycle rare earth element components. The last resort is responsible destruction and that assures contaminants in electronics, such as mercury, lead and arsenic, never pollute the air or water.
The last collection hosted by Salem in 2017 collected 6.62 tons of electronics, appliances and tires.