I just wanted to update you all on last weekend's OES electronics recycling remote depot that was held in the parking lot of the Amway Canada, that I wrote about last week.
Here are the official stats from the event:
- 460 vehicles came by to drop off their electronic waste for recycling; and
- about 25 tonnes of electronics waste was collected (this is still an estimate, final actual numbers have yet to come in)
You may want to check out an article that appeared in The Gazette, the unparalleled daily student newspaper of the University of Western Ontario (and, a bit of trivia here, the breeding ground of this blog's author, who served as editor-in-chief of this vaunted publication way back in the day!)
The good folks who ran this show also provided us with a few photos from the event, which you can access on our North of the 49th Picasa album by clicking here!
We want to thank everyone who came by and recycled their unwanted, out-of-date, obsolete, or damaged electronics. It's a small step (if 25 tonnes can be considered small), but every little bit helps when it comes to diverting this type of material from landfills… or your basement.
Thanks again, we appreciate the support. And if you're interested in participating in an event like this in the future, don't forget to check out this following site: http://www.recycleyourelectronics.ca, which provides you with a list of depots in your neck of the woods!
All the best,
Jay
I consider myself fairly average when it comes to electronics consumption. I have my share of tools (and toys), but I'm not obsessed to the point of having to buy every new, shiny gadget that comes on the market (unlike a certain co-worker who sits about 10 feet north-east of me, who just today lamented leaving her Blackberry and Kindle at home. I'm somewhat expecting her to rush out to buy a new iPad just to get through the day… ahem.)
That said, a casual look through my closets, cupboards, and storage-room boxes will turn up a variety of discarded, out-of-date cameras, VCRs, and other assorted electronics equipment. Of course, there are even more random wires, plugs, adapters, and other accessories that seem to multiply independently from the equipment that first spawned them — but that's another story.
So what do we do with all this stuff? My first digital camera — purchased about 10 years ago — cost, at the time, about as much as my Nikon DSLR (with two lenses!), yet has less power than the camera they've stuck in the latest Barbie doll. I upgraded a few years back (again, at about the fifth of the cost of the first camera), but even that one's now residing with my nine-year-old daughter.
In addition to the cameras, I've got a couple of VCRs that haven't seen the light of day since our DVD collection grew to its semi-Blockbuster-esque size; we have an old computer monitor that bit the dust years ago, a printer, a couple of dead cell phones, and some other assorted equipment. Why does it stick around? I don't know — some of it is out of sight, out of mind, while others (that first camera, for example) make me cringe at the thought of throwing away something that was so expensive at the time.
I can't give it away (trust me, I've tried.) We've shared a lot of our electronics over the years with friends and family, because we don't want this stuff to go to waste — but these really are the runts of the electronic litter.
Thankfully, the Ontario Electronic Stewardship is coming to the rescue. And Amway Canada is proud to continue its legacy of environmentally responsible behaviour by hosting the OES' Mobile Electronics Recycling Centre on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Bring your old TVs, computers, telephones, cell phones, cameras, and other image, audio, and video equipment to Amway Canada's headquarters at 375 Exeter Rd., London, ON, and OES will handle the safe recycling for you.
If you want more information on the program, please click here to view the City of London's Web site on electronics recycling. And if you need directions to get to Canuck Central, click here.
I know I'm not alone in accumulating a bunch of now-useless electronics. So here's a chance to de-clutter your home, do some spring cleaning in the late fall, and help protect the environment by safely and properly recycling your electronics. From internal programs, such as our battery and eyeglass recycling programs to supporting community efforts such as Christmas tree recycling, compost value days, London Clean & Green, and now hosting this electronics recycling depot, Amway Canada is proud to encourage its employees, IBOs, and fellow community members in doing their part to minimize our impact on the environment.
Please follow the Amway Canada Twitter feed for updates leading up to the Ontario Electronic Stewardship Mobile Electronics Recycling Centre's event on Sunday.
I hope to see you here. And it's a good thing that the aforementioned employee has an RV — she'll probably need the space to bring in last year's supply of outdated electronics alone!
(Note from Jay — 12:55 p.m., Nov. 16, 2010 — If you're interested in recycling electronics, but won't be in the Forest City this weekend [or if you're reading this from afar], I was just informed that there is a Web site you'll want to check out. Visit http://www.recycleyourelectronics.ca, where you can input your postal code and see where the closest depot to you is!)
All the best,
Jay