New Law Mandates Electronics Recycling

"All this material comes into our facility and it is sorted into categories," says Mike Whyte, President of Regional Computer Recycling and Recovery.

There, workers take the electronics apart. They harvest the pieces that are valuable to others. Less than one percent ends up at the landfill. "Our volume is increasing tremendously. From 2010 to 2011 we went from 10 million pounds to 60 million pounds," says Whyte.

He can expect to see even more in 2012. A new law went into effect Sunday that bans trash haulers from knowingly putting electronics in the landfill.

 "We are no longer able to pick up electronics at the curb along with trash if it's destined for disposal. We can pick it up if it's destined for recycling," says Sandy DiSalvo from Waste Management's Environmental Manager.

There are lots of places in our area where electronics can be recycled. Monroe county's new Ecopark on Avion Drive off of Paul Road is one of them. "Our community has a great history of environmental stewardship. Electronics recovery has been very popular in our community and this is a great free, convenient location here at the Ecopark," says Mike Garland. He is Monroe County's Director of Environmental Services.

There are lots of different recycling services offered at the Ecopark, but electronics are one of the most popular. Garland says, "We've collected over 40,000 pounds of material since we opened here in September."

No doubt, making a positive impact on the environment. "I think it does a lot to achieve recycling goals in New York State. It prevents materials from going into disposal. A lot of materials can be recovered and still have value, so it makes sense. If we can re-use them, why throw them out."