11 Cares hosts another successful ‘Hard To Recycle’ collection event

11 Cares partnered with the Pennsylvania Resources Council and Allegheny County Health Department for a Hard to Recycle Collection at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills on June 4.

Close to 900 people signed up for the 11 Cares Hard to Recycle Collection. The event was designed to help people get rid of items that can not simply be left on a curb. Items such as tires and flat screen TVs were recycled at the event. Some items were able to be disposed of for free and some required a fee.

Acceptable materials were:

Materials collected at no cost:

CPU (towers), laptops, mice, & keyboards, home phones, cellphones, tablets and UPS, servers, routers and modems, DVD players, VCRs, stereos, microwaves, copiers and scanners, electronic cables, video game consoles, expanded polystyrene packaging material, glass bottles, jugs and jars.

Materials collected for a fee:

• All computer monitors (flat screen & CRT) – $20 each

• Televisions – $30 each

• Console or rear projection TVs – $40 each

• Printers – $5 each

• Small freon containing appliances (window ac units, dehumidifiers) $10 each

• Fluorescent tubes: $2 per 4 foot tube

• Tires (car/truck) $5 without rims $12 with rims

• Hard drive data destruction verification -1 Drive $11.00 each

• Hard drive data destruction verification -each additional drive after 1st $3 each

The PRC is not accepting batteries, CFLs and media (VHS, DVDs, Cassette tapes).

“There’s so much stuff that you can’t put out for trash and things that can be recycled and keep it out of the trash dumps. So these are really important events and allow people to get rid of the stuff that you can’t otherwise legally do,” said David Hazlet, an attendant of the event.

The focus was to collect items that can typically be harmful to the environment if they are improperly disposed of.

“It’s very important to recycle properly because of things wind up in the landfill, electronics or tires, they can reach into the water into the air and could poison you or your family,” said Joshua Schuneman of the Pennsylvania Resources Council.

11 Cares is sponsored by 84 Lumber, Clearview Federal Credit Union, Duquesne Light Company and Highmark Wholecare.