Sikeston-area residents can e-cycle for free this Tuesday

SIKESTON -- This may be the biggest and best e-waste recycling event this area has had yet.

E-waste 2014 Recycling Day is scheduled Tuesday, according to Scott County Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn.

From 8 a.m. till 3 p.m., electronic items can be dropped off on the rear parking lot of Carnell's Collision Repair. While Carnell's address is 417 North Main, the rear lot is best accessed from Tanner Street.

"We need to have a good turnout if we can get it," Ziegenhorn said. "I hope people will come out, bring their plug-in stuff to the lot behind Carnell's body shop Tuesday and we'll get it out of Scott County."

This event was arranged by the Bootheel Solid Waste Management District which is administered by the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission.

"I've been serving on this Bootheel Solid Waste Management District board for 12 years," Ziegenhorn said. "There are six counties in this district. We take the total for grants each year and divide it up among those counties. Scott County, as well as the other counties, have benefitted greatly in the past years from this Bootheel Solid Waste Management District. Willard Adams is the planner of our District -- he's the one who applies for the grants from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and he has done an excellent job."

In recent years, the District's funding has been used "mainly for recycling," Ziegenhorn said. "A lot of things can be recycled."

"This is the third one (e-waste recycling day) we've had this year," said Steve Duke, executive director of the BRPC. "We've had two here in Dexter and we have one scheduled in Sikeston Tuesday. It's been really successful. I think we've had 22 tons of material -- electronics diverted from the landfill -- collected so far this year in Dexter."

For the complete story, see the Sunday edition of the Standard Democrat.