The fall recycling event will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 11, rain or shine, at the city garage at 425 E. Railroad St. Materials that will be accepted include televisions, computers, monitors, laptops, tablets, scanners, printers, fax machines, microwaves and scrap metal. Items containing freon, such as air conditioners, refrigerators and dehumidifiers, will not be collected.
The cost to dispose of a CRT television will be determined by weight. City residents will pay 50 cents per pound, while non-residents will pay $1 per pound. A flat rate is set for LCDs, LEDs and plasma TVs at $5 for city residents and $10 for non-residents. The event is cash only, and proof of residency or photo identification is required. Computers, monitors, laptops, tablets, scanners, printers, fax machines, scrap metal and microwaves are free of charge.
JP Mascaro, the city’s waste hauler, will take the items to recycle. The city is paying 50 percent of the resident cost per pound of $1 that the company is charging. The city will also pay the transportation costs of about $1,000 to discard the items.“I guarantee you, we will have those two trailers full,” Thomas Whitaker, superintendent of streets for the City of Pottsville, said Friday. Whitaker said he gets calls on a daily basis about people wanting to dispose of their old TVs.
“We’ve been trying to do this for a whole year,” he said. Whitaker estimates 800 or more TVs will be dropped off. The city’s street department workers find improperly disposed TVs once a month in the city. “Anywhere there’s going to be woods, there is going to be a TV,” Whitaker said. Sometimes, people drop TVs off at the city garage, but that is prohibited. The Covered Device Recycling Act of 2010 established rules governing recycling of specified electronic devices, established manufacturer responsibilities, landfill and trash haulers, among other guidelines. Unless the municipality has a curbside recycling program for electronics, residents are no longer permitted to put electronic devices such as TVs, computers, keyboards or printers out for the trash hauler.
According to a press release, the city is trying to do what it can to keep the area clean. “The scenery in the Pottsville area is beautiful. We are active partners with Schuylkill Keep It Pretty and want to offer this type of recycling event on a regular basis to do our part to protect the environment, property values, and the great outdoors,” the release states. City Administrator Thomas A. Palamar said the city wants to do the right thing for the area. “We are hoping to do this again in the springtime,” he said Friday.
The city also has a comprehensive solid waste and recycling program that includes unlimited household recycling as well as cardboard collection at the city garage.