Electronic recycling event set for April 27

PHOENIX (April 16, 2013) – Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials announced today that the Fourth Annual Payson Free Electronics Waste Recycling Event will be held Saturday morning, April 27 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Town of Payson Multi-Event Center, 1400 S. Beeline Highway.

ADEQ and its partners – Payson Water Department, Town of Star Valley, Gila County, Tonto Apache Tribe, Northern Gila County Sanitary District, Pine-Strawberry Water Improvement District, CH2MHill and E-Waste Harvesters of Phoenix -- anticipate collecting tons of unwanted televisions, computers, monitors, batteries, chargers, cell phones, VCRs, CD and DVD players, printers, small appliances, fax machines, cables and cords during the event.

The recyclable material will be collected at the Multi-Event Center, in the south part of Payson across Beeline Highway from Mazatzal Hotel and Casino. E-Waste Harvesters uses state of the art software to erase all hard drives and will provide companies and individuals donating e-waste a certificate of disposal for their records. The event has grown in popularity each of the three previous years with 10,601 pounds collected the first year, 20,345 pounds the second year and 23,350 pounds collected last year.

“It’s been exciting to see the Payson area get behind this and grow it every year,” ADEQ Director Henry Darwin said. “This is a great opportunity for people to dispose of all the unwanted electronics they have collected over the years while at the same time ensuring that this potentially toxic stream of waste is disposed of responsibly and does not take up valuable landfill space.”

 “The Town of Payson looks forward to the opportunity to work with ADEQ and our other partners to offer this much-needed recycling event,” said Buzz Walker, Payson’s Water Department Manager. “These events are typically some of the most well-attended of all our various town events.”

ADEQ has sponsored 85 events statewide since the e-waste program’s inception in August 2009 and collected nearly 2.1 million pounds of electronics for recycling.