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Free Electronics Recycling Ends Early At MOA
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CBS News
Organizers
of a recycling event outside the Mall of America had no idea how popular it
would be. So many people showed up, the event had to be shut down early.
Thousands
of cars jammed the streets around the mall Thursday and Friday morning. The
snarled traffic forced the recyclers to shut down late Friday morning. People
showing up later were disappointed.
"A
lot of difficulty trying to get the big, old TV in here," Jan Mousel said.
"To have to come here from Eden
Prairie and just, we're absolutely surprised now that
it's going to be closed. What do we do with it now?"
These
are some of the people turned away when the e-waste recycling event was forced
to close. Tori Van Dusen-Roos spent a few hours cleaning out a storage unit
filled with ancient computers.
"We're
looking forward to this opportunity of getting rid of it instead of
continuing to store it," said Van Dusen-Roos.
So
were thousands of other people. People came from as far as Rochester
and Owatonna to
dump their e-waste for free.
"Gridlock.
The traffic was stopped on Lindau, 24th
Avenue. Frankly I think they had more cars than
expected and nowhere for those cars to go," said Sgt. Charles Gollop, with
the Bloomington Police Department.
The
traffic mess meant the event could not continue, but organizers said it was a
huge success.
"E-waste
is the fastest growing waste stream and we wanted to do it in a big way and
believe me it was a big way," said Todd Schachtman with Materials
Processing Corp, which sponsored the event.
They
collected more than 70 truckloads of recyclables. They hope those who couldn't
take part Friday still recycle.
"You
don't have to wait until there is a huge event like this to take old material,"
said Schachtman.
A
lot of the cars turned away at the mall event ended up at JR's Recycling in Inver Grove Heights, Minn.
They take old electronics all year long and for a fee they'll pick it up from
your home .
In
Hennepin County, the two free drop-off facilities
experienced overflow crowds as well.
"We've
had to call in some extra staff and get some more equipment on the site,"
said Amy Roering, supervising environmentalist with Hennepin County. Staff members of the environmental department
said they were glad to have people enthused about recycling, but frustrated about
the crush of people on one day.
"They
can do it year round, we take all sorts of household electronics, for free,"
she said.
Roering
noted the Hennepin County Bloomington waste facility collected more than double
the normal amount of electronics Friday.
At one point the line was two blocks long.
"We're
still building awareness about where we can recycle electronic waste,"
said Roering.
It's
illegal in Minnesota
to dump television and computer monitors. The State Pollution Control Agency
said a single monitor can contain as much as eight pounds of lead.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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