'E-Waste Day' makes return to Sikeston

Sunday, March 18, 2012

SIKESTON -- Need to get rid of some old electronics? Mark March 31 on your calendar.

The last time Sikeston residents could conveniently and properly get rid of old and broken electronics was in December 2009 when the Bootheel Solid Waste Management District sponsored an "e-cycling day" here.

The E-Waste 2012 Recycling Day scheduled for March 31 will be even better, according to Willard Adams, solid waste planner for the district.

"The difference is this time we've included appliances and batteries," Adams said. "If it plugs in or takes batteries, we can recycle it."

A St. Louis-based company with a branch in Cape Girardeau, Midwest Recycling Center, was contracted to collect the items for this community recycling event, according to Adams.

"There will be a pickup site in Sikeston and a pickup site in Chaffee," he said.

Items can be dropped off from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m. at either site.

In Sikeston, the collection site will be the lot next to VFW Stadium at 1810 E. Malone Avenue.

The Chaffee site is the parking lot of the old Food Giant at the intersection of Highway 77 and Route EE.

"All they have to do is drop their items off," Adams said. "They'll have folks there to help them unload. The longest wait would be 10-15 minutes at the most."

All of the items that can be dropped off will be accepted at the collection sites for free except for computer monitors, which have a charge of $5; regular televisions, which cost $15 to drop off; and big screen and console TVs, which will be accepted with a payment of $35.

"They've got lead and/or gas and that has to be removed -- that's what the fee is for: to get that removed," Adams said.

As previously noted, washers, dryers, microwaves, stoves, refrigerators, air conditioning units and water heaters will be accepted this time as well as lead batters from passenger vehicles, tractors, boats; rechargeable batteries; and battery chargers and wires.

But the main purpose is to provide a way to get rid of old electronics.

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