Electronics Recycling Guide
Electronics are accepted, for a fee, at the recycling center drop off between 9am and 3pm, Monday - Saturday. Items are collected by GJ CRI for Lifespan Technology Recycling and sent to their environmentally responsible demanufacturing plant in Denver for processing.
Call us at 242-1036 for fees and more information.
NOTE: Electronics must be given to an attendant during these hours and the fee paid. Any other drop off of electronics constitutes dumping and violators are subject to a fine.
Some current fees are:
| ITEM | FEE |
|---|---|
| Monitors | $12.00 |
| CPU (Towers) | $8.00 |
| Printer (Small) | $8.00 |
| Laptops | $5.00 |
| TV (Per Inch) | $1.25 |
| Cell Phones | Free |
| Keyboards | $1.00 |
| VCR | $8.00 |
| Copiers (Table Top) | $25.00 |
| Copiers (Floor) | $100.00 |
Properly Disposing of Electronics
It is estimated that 1.1 million units of e-waste (monitors, CPU’s, cell phones, TV’s, copiers, etc) are disposed of each year by Colorado businesses and residents. This ewaste stream will add nearly 51,000 tons of lead, 15 tons of arsenic, 107 tons of cadmium, 209 tons of silver, and 25 tons of mercury to the state’s landfills by 2015. Soil, air, and water contamination from these toxins, and the associated human health risks, contributed to Colorado’s 2005 ban on e-waste disposal in landfills by business. Violators face fines of up to $25,000 per day. Similar bans on residential e-waste disposal are in the works.
Proper disposal of e-waste insures that data is destroyed and toxic electronic components are not landfilled, dumped or sent overseas, where environmental controls and human safety standards are not monitored.
There are costs associated with recycling e-waste. Items must be safely stored and transported to a dismantling location and personnel must be thoroughly trained to dismantle each item. Some of these costs must be passed along to recyclers in the form of a recycling fee.
Some of the larger computer manufacturing companies have programs in place to take back their equipment from customers. Check with your product’s manufacturer for such programs.
Some states, like California, have initiated “Advanced Recovery Fees”, whereby the purchase price of the unit includes a fee to help with proper disposal costs at its end of life. Colorado has no such law in effect, but local residents and business still have an option:
LifeSpan Technology Recycling, a Denver business, is one of only eight firms in the U.S. to be designated a Certified Electronics Recycler (IAER), incorporating management standards set by the EPA.
Some systems less than 3 years old are tested and reused, although residential waste electronics are usually too outdated to reuse.
