Recyclable Items
Aluminum Recycling
The environmental benefits of aluminum recycling are enormous, so are the benefits.
The advent of the aluminum beverage can in the 1960's helped spur the development of community recycling programs. Markets fluctuate over time, but traditionally the high market value of scrap aluminum has generated enough income to allow recycling programs to pay for other, less lucrative recycling services.
Recycling is as valuable to the aluminum industry as aluminum is to the recycling infrastructure. The capital costs for making aluminum from recycled material is far lower than the capital investment needed to derive aluminum from its source-bauxite ore. It takes 12 to 20 times more energy to make aluminum from bauxite than making it from recycled aluminum.
Because most electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels, that energy savings translates into further conservation of natural resources and a significant reduction in pollution. The Reynolds Metals Company estimates that producing recycled aluminum produces 95% less pollution than making aluminum from virgin ore. Transportation, beverage cans and other packaging, and building construction are the top markets for the aluminum industry.
Transportation is the largest market for aluminum in the United States. Almost two-thirds of aluminum is used to make car and light truck components and the vast majority of that material is recycled, up to 90% according to the Aluminum Association. The use of aluminum in car parts also drives other conservation benefits, lightweight's aluminum body panels and engines for instance, are used to improve the fuel efficiency of some cars.
Building construction is the third biggest market for aluminum; aluminum doors, windows and siding are a major source of recycled aluminum. Recycled aluminum is increasingly used in their production.
Did you know?
- Recycling an aluminum can saves the energy equivalent of six ounces of gasoline.
- The energy saved by one aluminum can is enough to run a television for three hours.
- In three months, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the commercial air fleet.
- Americans threw away half a million tons of aluminum last year, worth nearly $800 million dollars!
Appliances
The US EPA RAD (Responsible Appliance Disposal) program and US DOE Energy Star program encourage proper recycling of refrigerators and freezers.
Both AEP Ohio and Dayton Power & Light (DP&L) are offering fridge and freezer recycling to residents. Collectively, these companies provide utilities to about 2.5 million customers in Ohio (500,000 by DP&L and 1.5 Million by AEP). If a resident is an AEP customer or a DP&L customer, they can have their working fridge and/or freezer picked up and they will receive a $25 check in the mail. This rebate will expire December 31st, 2010. See the websites for more details: www.aepohio.com, www.energystar.gov.
Defiance County Environmental Services offers ‘free’ disposal of appliances in cooperation with Defiance OmniSource. Defiance County Environmental Services allows customers to bring their appliances to the Hicksville Transfer Station, Gingrich Road on the 1st and 3rd Saturday in April. OmniSource will take appliances year round at their location: 880 Linden Street, Defiance Ohio. Lowe’s offers free appliance recycling to customers when new appliances are purchased.
When purchasing a new or used appliance check with the store for details on their appliance recycling program. Will they remove the old appliance if the new appliance is delivered? Do they charge a fee? Check with local organizations, churches, and scrap metal collectors. Most will take a working appliance and recycle it. If you have any questions, or need help recycling an appliance please call Defiance County Environmental Services at 419-782-5442.
Batteries
Every year in the United States, billions of batteries are bought, used, and thrown out. In 1998 alone, over 3 billion industrial and household batteries were sold. The demand for batteries can be traced largely to the rapid increase in cordless, portable products such as cellular phones, video cameras, laptop computers, and battery-powered tools and toys.
Because many batteries contain toxic constituents such as mercury and cadmium, they pose a potential threat to human health and the environment when improperly disposed. Though batteries generally make up only a tiny portion of municipal solid waste (MSW)—less than 1 percent—they account for a disproportionate amount of the toxic metals in MSW.
Some battery manufacturers are redesigning their products to reduce or eliminate the use of toxic constituents. For example, since the early 1980s, manufacturers have reduced their use of mercury by over 98 percent. Many manufacturers are also designing batteries for a longer life.
Most automotive shops collect batteries for a fee and will return these batteries to the vendor or send off-site for recycling.
Rechargeable Batteries
Locally, Sears and Radio Shack in the Northtown Mall, Radio Shack in Hicksville and Arps Hardware, all participate in rechargeable battery collection. You may take your rechargeable batteries to any of these stores or call them for further information.
Lowe’s has expanded their in-store recycling capabilities. The home improvement chain partnered with Call2Recycle to handle recycling of rechargeable batteries and mobile phones. Lowe’s has increased the volume of rechargeable batteries it recovered from consumers, with more than 334,000 pounds recycled in 2009.
Sears, Northtown Mall – 419-782-2900
Radio Shack, Northtown Mall – 419-784-9949
Radio Shack, Hicksville – 419-542-9675
Arps Hardware – 419-782-1171
Lowe’s – 419-782-9000
Cellular Phones & Accessories
Cell Phones for Soldiers was created by Brittany & Robbie Bergquist of Norwell MA. After reading a story about a soldier who ran up a huge phone bill calling home from Iraq, these two teenagers decided to help out. They started by opening an account with $21.00 of their own money. They are collecting cash donations and old cell phones. The cell phones are recycled for cash and the proceeds are used to buy prepaid calling cards for our soldiers serving in the Middle East. Cell Phones For Soldiers is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Their efforts have motivated people and businesses around the country to donate to this worthy cause. Their goal is to provide every US soldier with a way to call home for free. For more information, please visit their website @ www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com, Phone: 1-800-426-1031
Drop off any cell phone at
Defiance County Environmental Services
500 Court Street, Suite E (2nd Floor)
Defiance, Ohio
CELL PHONE FOR SOLDIERS collected 1,524,733 cell phones in 2011!! That translates into 91,483,980 minutes of FREE talk time for soldiers across the world!
There is still a great need to provide this valuable communication to troops and their families. In addition, every day you hear about more and more troops coming home from serving in the Middle East. Moving forward, Cell Phones for Soldiers will be moving to the next level by expanding to help Veterans! Helping Heroes Home is an initiative of Cell Phones for Soldiers, which provides emergency funds for returning veterans to alleviate communication challenges as well as physical, emotional and assimilation hardships. Their fight overseas may be finished…..but their fight to reconnect back home has just begun.
PLEASE help our soldiers and veterans, by taking old cell phones to Defiance County Environmental Services; they will be shipped to Soldiers for Cell Phones.
Soldiers for Cell phones will send the phones to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone – enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad.
Approximately half of the phones ReCellular processes are reconditioned and resold to wholesale companies in over 40 countries around the world. Phones and components that cannot be refurbished are dismantled and recycled to reclaim materials, including:
- Gold, silver and platinum from circuit boards
- Copper wiring from phone chargers
- Nickel, iron, cadmium and lead from battery packs
- Plastic from phone cases and accessories
Clothing
A variety of local organizations participate in the annual Coats for Kids campaign. People can 'recycle' gently used or outgrown coats by taking them to participating drop off locations. Area dry cleaning businesses clean the coats for free, before dispersing the coats to the public. Defiance has a local Goodwill and they will accept donations of clothing at their store located at 1524 N. Clinton. Call them for receiving times. If you are not sure of what organization to donate to, scan the yellow pages. Different organizations depend on the donations of others. The Pregnancy Crisis Center needs baby clothing and baby items, the PATH organization could use donations of adult clothing as well as young children. The Red Cross supplies clothing to disaster stricken areas as well as serving local needs. Most churches in the area also assist local organizations or have clothing drives to assist an impoverished area or help a troubled family.
Clothing is a very easy item to recycle and it benefits others immediately!
Computer Recycling
From the growing popularity and necessity of computers and rapidly changing computer technologies, comes the growing problem of computer and electronics waste. As more new and improved computers are designed and built, older obsolete computers are becoming part of the waste stream. The life expectancy of a computer is getting shorter and shorter with the advancing technology.
There are three primary parts that make up a personal computer. The computer is the large box which contains the disk drive, power supply, and the processor. The computer may also contain other components such as the sound and video cards, and internal modems. The monitor is the screen, or the part of the computer that looks like a television (also referred to as a cathode ray tube or CRT). The keyboard is the part which, not surprisingly, looks like a typewriter keyboard. In some older models, the computer may be housed in the same case as the monitor or the keyboard.
Virtually an entire computer can be recycled. From the glass in the monitor, to the plastic in the case, to the copper in the power supply, to the precious metals used in the circuitry. Companies are making new innovative products out of old computers. Many computers can be revitalized and donated or sold to schools in economically challenged urban and rural areas. Some vocational schools use old computers to teach electronic repair and analysis techniques. Non-functioning computers may also have salvageable components such as modems or power supplies that could be used to refurbish other computers.
Under Ohio's provisions, computer CRTs are not regulated as hazardous wastes if the generator has them recycled. Ohio considers discarded integrated circuits from computer systems to be scrap metal. Scrap metal is not regulated as hazardous waste if it is reclaimed or recycled.
You can contact the Defiance County Environmental & Administrative services, 419-782-5442, for further computer recycling information and/or our local Goodwill, Salvation Army, Am Vets, or other organizations where you can donate the computer for resale or refurbishing. You might also contact school districts near you to see if they can use your computer or the Ohio EPA website, www.epa.state.oh for a list of companies that have identified themselves as recyclers of computers and/or electronic components.
Dell and Goodwill Launch Free Computer Recycling for Northwest Ohio Consumers
TOLEDO, OHIO, Feb. 20, 2008
Reconnect, a free drop-off program to recycle unwanted computers, was introduced today by Dell and Goodwill Industries of Northwest Ohio.
Reconnect will serve consumers throughout Northwest Ohio. The program leverages Dell’s resources and global recycling experience and the donation and retail infrastructure of Goodwill.
Reconnect helps protect the environment through the responsible recycling or reuse of computer equipment, and provides residents a convenient way to support a local non-profit organization.
The program’s goal is two-fold: divert nearly one million pounds of used computers and computer equipment from area landfills over the next year; and provide consumer education on the importance of environmentally-responsible computer disposal. Reconnect also can help create job opportunities for individuals with disabilities and other employment barriers.
"Goodwill’s Reconnect program has the potential not only to divert environmentally dangerous products from the solid waste stream but also to provide new opportunities for disabled citizens throughout Northwest Ohio" said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.
Beginning today, residents throughout Northwest Ohio can visit www.reconnectpartnership.com or www.goodwillnwohio.org to locate the most convenient drop-off at any of the 14 participating Goodwill donation centers and retail stores.
Goodwill will accept and sort the donated computer equipment and Dell's product recovery partner will recycle and remarket the recycled materials, such as plastics, glass and metals. All proceeds support Goodwill’s non-profit job-training and employment programs.
Residents will be responsible for removing data from hard drives and other storage media before donating to Goodwill. Goodwill staff will provide donors with a donation receipt at the time of donation.
“Goodwill Industries of Northwest Ohio is very happy to begin the operational phase of our partnership with Dell,” said Bob Huber, Goodwill’s President and CEO. “Responsible recycling of e-waste is critical to our environment and we are excited to offer this program to the communities we serve. As the pilot for other Ohio Goodwills, we join Michigan and other Goodwill/Dell Reconnect partners around the country in this beneficial community effort while supporting Goodwill’s mission and creating new jobs.”
“Dell wants to make computer recycling easy and free for any consumer, and ReConnect is an important program that helps make that possible,” said Joe Strathmann, head of product recycling services for Dell. “Becoming the greenest technology company means partnering with communities, stakeholders and customers to help protect the Earth. Our latest Northwest Ohio partnership is an excellent example of that effort in action.”
Other Goodwill-Dell programs are under way in Austin (15 counties in Central Texas), San Francisco (Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties), San Antonio (23 counties in Central and South Texas), North Carolina (49 counties), San Diego County, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, as well as throughout the states of Michigan and New Jersey.
Additional Information, including Questions and Answers, about the Program
About Dell Dell Inc.
(NASDAQ: DELL)
Listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com, or to communicate directly with Dell via a variety of online channels, go to www.dell.com/conversations. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.
About Goodwill Industries of Northwest Ohio
Since 1933, Goodwill Industries of Northwest Ohio has provided employment and job training to individuals with disabilities and/or work-related disadvantages. As unemployment increases, so does the need for Goodwill’s services. Northwest Ohio Goodwill stores and donation centers are located in Bowling Green, Bryan, Defiance, Findlay, Napoleon, Northwood, Ottawa, Tiffin and Toledo. For more information on Goodwill Industries of Northwest Ohio, please visit our web site: www.goodwillnwohio.com.
Store and Donation Center Locations:
Defiance: 1005 N. Clinton; 419-782-2577
Bryan: 222 W. High St.; 419-633-0039
Napoleon: 230 Lagrange St.; 419-592-0201
Findlay : 7430 Timberston; 419-422-2796
For an entire Northwest Ohio Listing please visit www.reconnectpartnership.com
Drywall Recycling
The Construction materials Recycling Association (CMRA) announce the opening of its newest website, www.drywallrecycling.org, an information resource on how to recycle gypsum wallboard from the construction and demolition waste stream. This project was funded by U.S. EPA Region 5 and the information was compiled by Dr. Timothy Townsend of the University of Florida.
Included on the webpage is information about gypsum drywall, how it can be processed for other markets after use as drywall, and some of the available markets. There is a list of known literature and research on the subject, and the list of state contracts for gypsum recyclers. In addition, there is an extensive discussion of possible odor problems when the material is disposed of in landfills.
“Gypsum may be the more difficult material to recycle among all the C&D components,” says William Turley, Executive Director, and CMRA. “This webpage will provide the basic information on how to do it.”
The webpage is the second in the CMRA’s ongoing series of compiling all known information on recycling various components of the construction and demolition waste stream. This first effort is www.shinglerecycling.org and the next planned website is www.concreterecycling.org. The latter will not be available for some time yet.
Fluorescent Bulb Recycling
Important Information on cleaning up broken CFL bulbs.
Lowe’s has expanded their in-store recycling capabilities at all 1,700 retail stores in the continental U.S. Customers can drop off any expired, unbroken fluorescent bulbs at any store. Lowe’s assure that the products are responsibly shipped and recycled.
The Home Depot® is commended for their recycling efforts; however they are not in our community of Defiance, Ohio. To check who will take fluorescent bulbs and maybe find a closer business, please check out: www.thomasnet.com, type in fluorescent bulbs and select northern Ohio for the region.
The Home Depot®, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, expanded its long-term commitment to the environment and sustainability by launching a national in-store, consumer compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb recycling program at all 1,973 The Home Depot® locations.
This free service is the first such offering made so widely available by a retailer in the United States and offers customers additional options for making environmentally conscious decisions from purchase to disposal. The Home Depot® Canada launched a CFL recycling program in November, 2007.
At each The Home Depot® store, customers can simply bring in any expired, unbroken CFL bulbs, and give them to the store associate behind the returns deck. The bulbs will then be managed responsibility by an environmental management company who will coordinate CFL packaging, transportation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance.
Mercury
Mercury is probably best known as the silver liquid in thermometers. However, it has over 3000 industrial uses. Mercury and its compounds are widely distributed in the environment as a result of both natural and man-made activities. The utility, and the toxicity, of mercury have been known for centuries. New evidence demonstrates that even low levels of mercury exposure may be hazardous.
Every mercury spill should be reported – large or small. You should contact anyone of the following: Defiance County Environmental & Administrative Services (419-782-5442), Health Department, Ohio EPA, US EPA, Poison Control, or your local emergency management department or fire department.
Mercury clean up, small spills – A small spill is about 0.6 to 3.0 grams or the amount in a thermometer or thermostat. This is defined as small only if the spill is limited to one area and cleaned up promptly. Small spills can be spread by using a vacuum or tracking contamination. The levels in the air can become unsafe, which is why the spill needs to be cleaned up as soon as possible. Larger spills, which is defined as more than 3.0 grams or greater than the amount in a thermostat may required multi-agency response. The United States Mercury Response Guidebook outlines the 6 “R’s” to follow when cleaning a large spill. Local agencies have been trained to follow proper procedures when dealing with mercury.
Mercury Exposure – You can get exposed to mercury through ingestion, absorption and inhalation. Short term symptoms of inhalation exposure include: chest tightness, fever, weakness, nausea, gingivitis. Long term symptoms include: personality changes, decreased vision/hearing, peripheral nerve damage, hypertension, kidney damage and acrodynia (pink’s disease). Severe acute exposure could have possible long term damage to your health or in rare cases, death.
Small amounts of mercury must be sealed in a glass container with the top sealed with electrical tape, then placed in another container such as a zip-lock bag. The container should be stored in a cool protected area to prevent evaporation and breakage. The vapors are hazardous.
For additional information regarding mercury recycling and/or general data, please check out the following sites:
www.osha.gov/SLTC/mercury/index.html
www.epa.gov/mercury
Plastics
Our nation generates more than 19.3 million tons of plastic waste each year, and yet only 2% is recovered by recycling. Most plastics that end up in Ohio’s waste stream are from packaging and containers.
Plastic is a valuable commodity because it is an oil or natural gas-based product. By recycling plastics, Ohioans are saving energy and conserving a non-renewable source. The plastics industry has voluntarily devised a coding system which makes recycling plastics easier for local communities. Since 1988, many plastic containers have become lighter and many manufacturers are packaging their products in the most recyclable plastics possible. The coding system for plastics that our recycling stations accept is as follows:
#1 PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) Also known as PET, this plastic is most commonly used for soft drink bottles and frozen food trays.
#2 HDPE (high-density polyethylene) Another commonly used plastic, it is used to produce food containers such as milk and juice jugs, and personal care product packaging such as shampoo and lotion bottles.
Many of Ohio’s recycling centers, curbside collection programs and recycling drives do accept some plastic. The most commonly recycled plastics are those coded #1 and #2. For example milk jugs and soda bottles can be recycled and remanufactured into new products, such as fiberfill, carpeting and plastic lumber products. Important facts about plastics recycling:
- Plastic products make up about 11% of the nation’s waste stream by weight, but make up about 24% by volume.
- A typical single-family household will set out about 13 pounds of plastics per person each year in curbside recycling programs.
- Recycling plastic containers into new products saves about 50% of the energy used to make the same product from new material. In addition, recycling plastics can save twice as much energy as incineration.
- The national recycling rate for PET plastics (#1) bottles reached 32% percent in 1994, yet only 2% of all plastics were recycled.
- About, 1,200 soft drink and salad dressing containers could carpet the average living room.
- It takes 1,050 HDPE (#2) milk jugs to make a six-foot plastic lumber park bench.
Plastic recycling is easy. Remove and discard tops and rings, rinse well until no liquid residue remains, crush to save space and store until collection time.
Ohioans must continue to look at new ways to reduce the state’s solid waste stream, and recycling plastics is a viable alternative. To ensure the success and growth of plastics recycling, Ohioans must choose plastics that can be recycled and purchase containers and plastic products that are made with recycle materials.
Plastic Bag Recycling
Paper or plastic? How many times have we all been asked that question? Those thin little plastic bags with handles have been a useful item. People reuse the bags or replace more expensive garbage liners with plastic grocery bags. We attempt to reuse and recycle, but…they keep multiplying! Even a family of two can possess over 30 bags per month. Some store chains will accept ‘their’ bags and utilize a recycling process that takes used bags and makes new ones for their store. This is wonderful, but what do you do when your drawer is stuffed with bags or your convenient bag holder exceeds the limits, where do those bags go? Normally in the trash and to the landfill!
Defiance County Environmental Services in cooperation and coordination with Werlor Recycling will now accept clean plastic bags. All we ask is that you stuff empty, clean bags into a bag and when you can’t stuff any more in that bag, tie the handles together and bring them to any of our recycling stations. For dates, times and locations, see our home page and click on any monthly calendar. **Please note that for those that have the green recycle bins at their homes, Werlor is not accepting the plastic bags or shampoo/lotion bottles.
Lowe’s is now offering recycling centers at each of their 1,700 retail stores in the continental U.S. They will also take plastic shopping bags, from any store.
If you have any questions or comments, please call our office at 419-782-5442 or email the Director, Tim Houck at thouck@defiance-county.com or the Assistant Director, June Crosser at jcrosser@defiance-county.com.
Television Recycling
Digital TV Transition has been extended until June 12, 2009. Currently, many over-the-air stations are broadcasting in both analog and digital TV formats. After June 12, 2009, full-power TV stations will broadcast only in digital. The DTN transition will affect those who watch free over-the-air television (through a rooftop antenna or “rabbit ears”). If you watch over-the-air programs on an analog TV, you must take action before June 12, 2009.
If you subscribe to cable or satellite service, your TV will not be affected by this change. You can also purchase a Digital Converter Box from several retail stores. As consumers continue to upgrade technologies, transitioning from analog to digital technology and cathode ray tube (CRT) to flat panel televisions, they will need opportunities to manage their old TVs. Recycling TVs help to conserve natural resources and reduce energy use, green house gas emissions and other pollutants related to extraction and processing of virgin materials.
In 2007, Americans had accumulated 99 MILLION TVs and threw away nearly 27 MILLION. Only 18% were recycled. Due to the expectation of an increase in outdated analog TVs, recycling outlets for Televisions has increased. Defiance County is not equipped to handle the hazardous material within a television set, so TVs have not been included in our recycling program. Those recyclers that have the capability to recycle televisions are listed below:
BEST BUY – All US Best Buy Stores will accept most consumer electronics (including televisions up to 32” in size) for recycling, beginning February 15th, 2009. Consumers may bring a maximum of two (2) items per day. A $10 fee will be applied for each item and consumers will be given a $10 Best Buy gift card in return.
SAMSUNG TVs – Offers more than 170 locations throughout the US where consumers can drop off their SAMSUNG TVs at no cost (other brands will be taken, but a fee will apply). The closest location to the City of Defiance is 525 Enterprise Drive, Wauseon, OH 43567.
SONY TVs – Provides consumers 274 nationwide locations with free recycling service for all Sony brand TV’s and fee-based recycling of other brands. Sony’s program is called the Take Back Recycle Program and is offered in Warsaw, IN, Southfield, MI, Cincinnati, OH, Grand Rapids, MI, and Fairborn, OH. Please check the SONY website and click recycling program to find a SONY recycling location nearest you.
Other brands of TV’s may offer a similar program. Please check the brand of your TV and Google their website for further information.
Tire Recycling
Every year, 10 to 12 million scrap tires are generated by Ohio citizens. Many of these tires eventually wind up in large scrap tire stockpiles, abandoned in warehouses, or dumped along roadsides in rural areas. These scrap tires are a serious environmental and public health threat because of the potential for fire and because tires hold water that serves as an ideal breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Did you know that ten tires, when left intact, can occupy more than a cubic yard of space in a landfill? For years, that has been the fate of out of service tires taking up landfill space. Today, however, tires are taking a new spin; giving them use long after their days as tires are gone.
Tires are initially recycled for their rubber content, Processed through a series of commercially available shredders that sequentially reduce them to two-inch or smaller pieces, with the steel magnetically removed to produce an alternative fuel (in lieu of coal) used by pulp and paper producers, cement kilns, and electric utilities. It is also an effective substitute for crushed stone in civil engineering applications such as road beds, landfill construction or septic field construction. Crumb rubber (rubber granules and powder) can be used for playground and athletic surfaces, running tracks, landscaping/groundcover applications, bullet containment systems, or as feedstock to be further modified into specialty materials such as rubberized asphalt or reincorporated back into tires. Tires are also being recycled into heavy-duty roofing shingles, stamped from the tread of scrap passenger and light truck tires and coated with a granular material to create a "slate look"
Recycling the steel wire in a tire now allows up to 99 percent of the average passenger car tire be captured for recycling. Recycling steel tire wire is also an environmentally-responsible means of collecting a high quality source of steel scrap and conserving landfill space. The average passenger tire contains approximately 10 percent steel wire by weight, which helps make the tire stronger and more rigid.
Tire wire scrap is used to make new steel. Each year, between 60 and 70 million tons of steel scrap, including old steel cans, broken-down appliances, old automobiles and construction metals, are recycled.
Tires are accepted at the Henry County Landfill, visit their website for further information.