Iola High School’s Green Team will collect electronic waste Saturday morning at the Recreation Community Building in Riverside Park.
This will be the fifth such collection done by IHS students. Another collection will occur next spring.
“We’ve expanded with organization of a Green Team at the high school this year,” said Marcie Longberg, teacher adviser. About 25 students coordinate the effort.
“Usually we fill a large U-Haul trailer and a van or two,” Longberg said, with the collected computers, cell phones, stereos, modems, printers — bound this year for a recycling center in Topeka.
All waste is taken free of charge, except computer monitors.
“We charge $5 for them and we won’t take television sets,” Longberg said.
Donations of money also is encouraged to help the club pay for trailer rental and fuel to drive to and from Topeka.
“The trailer will cost $35,” with gasoline costs depending on how many vehicles are required to ferry what’s collected, she said.
People unable to carry things to the park on Saturday may call Iola High, 365-4715, before Friday to schedule a pickup.
ELECTRONIC waste is one of the fastest growing problems in the world, a flyer advertising Saturday’s collection notes.
About 80 percent of all electronics go to a landfill, with the toll on space mounting quickly since about 350,000 cell phones and 130,000 computers are discarded each day. A concern is that they contain lead, mercury and other heavy metals, known to be carcinogens, as well as toxic materials.
