AC&B’s eWaste Collection set for Friday, Saturday

By AVERY TAYLOR
For the Daily Press

Artesia Clean & Beautiful’s 17th Annual Electronic Waste Collection Event will take place Friday and Saturday at the Eddy County Fairgrounds food court. The event will run from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturday.

CARC Document Destruction will also be there destroying paper documents, like old bills and tax records, from 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

The recycling event, which first began in 2008, has kept nearly 230 tons of electronics out of landfills.

“I started this a few years ago because there wasn’t one around here,” Linda Stevens, the executive director of Artesia Clean & Beautiful, said.

Both the eWaste Collection and document destruction are free of charge, Stevens said. The only cost associated with the event is a $5 fee for the collection of cathode ray-tube monitors.

Stevens said there are a variety of electronics people can bring, including gaming systems, VCRs, DVD players, phones, cameras, record players and typewriters.

“A lot of old stuff like that still is out there,” Stevens said. “Every once in a while you’ll get something vintage.”

There are some things that cannot be recycled at the event, however, including televisions and appliances.

For larger items like TVs and appliances that cannot be recycled at the event and will not fit in a dumpster, Stevens recommends taking them to a waste transfer station.

There is no formal limit to how many electronics people can bring to the event, Stevens said.

“We don’t care how much you bring, and there’s no charge for the event, so just bring it,” Stevens said.

Businesses or other people or groups with a large amount of electronics to recycle should contact Artesia Clean & Beautiful about dropping them off early, Stevens said.