Naperville to resume electronics recycling services Monday, Nov 7

CHICAGO (Scrap Monster): Naperville’s Environmental Collection Campus located at 180 Fort Hill Drive will begin accepting electronic waste for recycling starting Monday, November 7. The communication issued by the City authorities noted that electronics will not be accepted before this date. The collection of obsolete electronics items is sponsored by eWorks Electronics Services Inc. in partnership with DuPage County. The center will also accept traditional recyclables, scrap metals and hazardous household waste.

The items will be accepted from 7 AM to 3 PM Monday through Friday. Residents are not allowed to dump electronics on-site during times other than the mentioned collection hours. Also, all items must be delivered unboxed and with minimal packaging materials. The program is open for everyone. There will be charges for recycling CRT, Flat screens, Projection TVs and Monitors. Those under 21 inches will be charged $25 per unit. Also, residents will have to pay $35 per unit for recycling CRT, Flat screens, Projection TVs and Monitors whose screen size is equal to or larger than 21 inches. The money thus collected will directly go to eWorks ESI.

The accepted items include:-

Computers & Peripherals: PCs, main frames, modems, printers, monitors, terminals, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, floppy disk drives, plotters, mouse, keyboards, scanners, cables

Office Equipment & Products: Telephones, phone systems, answering machines, fax machines, copy machines, cellular phones, pagers, postage machines

Small Home Appliances, Home Improvement Products: Microwave ovens, hair dryers, circuit breaker boxes, rechargeable batteries, power tools, electronic motors, wire, toasters, coffee makers (no glass), blenders and mixers (no glass)

Home Entertainment & Other Items: TVs, VCRs, DVD players, stereo equipment, joy sticks, cameras, camcorders, video game players.

However, large appliances, hazardous and chemical waste are not accepted. Also, residents with more than 50 items could request special pickup by contacting eWorks.

The City had stopped accepting electronics waste for recycling in September last year, after New Life Electronics Recycling-the company hired to recycle collected electronic items had failed to process all the electronics brought to the facility, thereby leaving huge stockpiles of unwanted electronic devices. Later, the city had to clear the piles of electronics at its own expense.

According to the City press release, 17 items are explicitly banned from Illinois landfills and must be properly recycled. They are TVs, Monitors, Printers, Computers, Electronic Keyboards, Facsimile Machines, Videocassette Recorders, Portable Digital Music Players, Digital Video Disc Players, Video Game Consoles, Small Scale Servers, Scanners, Electronic Mice, Digital Converter Boxes, Cable Receivers, Satellite Receivers and Digital Video Disc Recorders,.

All other electronics including microwaves, space heaters, speakers, etc. could be thrown in garbage, but it is recommended that these items are also properly recycled in order to prevent environmental pollution.