This content was published: May 10, 2012. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Sylvania’s e-cycling event to get rid of old computer equipment, block Styrofoam
Photos and story by Kate Chester
Mark the calendar for Saturday, May 19 – which is when the Sylvania Campus will host its fifth annual computer recycling drive.
The event will take place in Parking Lot 10, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Unwanted computer equipment – computer towers, laptops, monitors, printers, keyboards, scanners and disks – will be accepted on site by Total Reclaim and Sylvania faculty, staff and students, then evaluated as to whether it can be used again. If not, it will be responsibly recycled.
Heaps of unwanted computer equipment are collected and organized by PCC Sylvania students at the annual recycling event for old computer equipment. A new twist to this year’s event is that block Styrofoam will also be accepted on site.
The event is open to the general public. The cost is $5 per car load and $10 per pick-up truck/SUV/van load. Cash only – no checks or credit cards will be accepted. And like last year, television sets will not be accepted.
Throughout the event, students will collect data about donors and donations as part of class research projects.
A new twist to the event this year is that block Styrofoam also will be accepted on site. Total Reclaim will process the collected material at its Portland facility using a densifier (a powerful shredder) to reduce its volume. This will be sold to manufacturers of low-grade plastics such as picture frames.
“The densifier significantly shrinks the Styrofoam, so much so that it takes a full 53-foot tractor-trailer load of Styrofoam to produce one four-by-four-by-four foot block – about the size of a standard pallet – of densified, reusable plastic material,” said Diane Shingledecker, Computer Applications Systems instructor and organizer of the e-cycling drive. “When you think of how much Styrofoam is out there and how much potentially goes into landfills – and then think of ways it can be re-purposed into other products if just collected – it makes you excited at the opportunity of accepting it. I’m delighted we can offer this service at this year’s recycling event.”
For more information, contact Kate Chester, community relations manager, at (971) 722-8233, or Shingledecker at (971) 722-4099.
That block Styrofoam in the basement is about to find a new home.