INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Dozens of old televisions, obsolete computers, and out-dated printers, along with boxes heaped with remote controls, computer keyboards and mice and more won’t be calling the Indian River County Landfill home. Instead, they will be broken down, stripped of their components, repurposed or refurbished to find another life after the county’s annual electronics recycling event.
Only half-way through the six-hour event at the Indian River County Fairgrounds, more than 250 vehicles had pulled up, depositing old, unwanted electronics and cables and wires. By then, the event had already clocked more vehicles than it had the year before out at the Indian River Mall.
At one point, the line of drivers extended the width of the parking field parallel to 58th Avenue, according to organizer Valerie Lemons, from the Indian River County Solid Waste Disposal District.
“We’re trying it out,” Lemons said of using the fairgrounds as a central location for the recycling event. Before, the county would hold two events, one in Vero Beach, the other in Sebastian. “We’ve had a very good response.”
Among those getting rid of old electronics was Jon Putzke, who filled the Toyota Rav4 with four years’ worth of items.
He said he came out to the event “mainly because you don’t know what to do with it.”
Because he didn’t know where to take the gear or how to handle it, he just stacked it in his garage. He had multiple computers, speakers, electric fans, cell phones, telephones and other assorted items.
When asked if he’d be able to pull his car back into the garage, he said, “I think I might now!”
AERC Recycling Solutions in West Melbourne, which collected the recycled items at the end of the event, has a 100 percent no landfill policy. According to Ryan Landmesser, of AERC, that means none of what was dropped off Saturday would make its way into the landfill – everything would be reused, refurbished, repurposed or recycled into something new.
“Everything here has a value,” he said, explaining that each item would be evaluated at the warehouse and sorted by how it would be treated.
TVs, he said, are the No. 1 issue for disposal because the typical TV contains 15 pounds of lead in their screens. The TVs undergo a process to have the lead separated from the glass and then used for batteries.
Computers, too, can be stripped for 23 commodities, Landmesser said, including steel, aluminum, copper, and wire.
Ralph Monticello was another who took Saturday to clear his home of unwanted electronics, noting that he was glad the items were going to be recycled rather than simply dumped in the landfill.
“There’s too much waste in this country,” he said.
Monticello said he is a supporter of Keep Indian River Beautiful, one of the organizations involved in the recycling event.
“This is very well organized,” he said. “This is a pleasure.”
For his part, he loaded his vehicle with old scanners, a few TVs, computer printers, a computer and an old cell phone.
Lemons said that while the event is meant to help people do just as Monticello and Putzke have done – clear out their homes of electronics – its other purpose is to raise awareness that they don’t have to wait for next recycling event. They can take their items to any of the county’s Convenience Centers anytime throughout the year to dispose of their unwanted items.
Convenience Centers are located at the following sites:
- Fellsmere – 12510 CR 510
- Gifford – 4901 41st St.
- Oslo – 950 1st Pl.
- Roseland – 7860 130th St.
- Winter Beach – 3955 65th St.