The Lena Road Landfill collects and properly disposes of items like household hazardous waste and e-scrap the third Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to Cari Walz, household hazardous waste technician in charge of the collection.
The site is the only place that accepts e-scrap - consumer electronics like computers batteries, computers, printers, computer monitors, televisions, microwaves, stereos and other electronic items.
According to a brochure published by the Manatee County Utility Operations Landfill Division, many electronic items contain lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic, and can contaminate the environment and ground water supply.
"What we're targeting are things with circuit boards in them," said Walz. "They could have lead and heavy metals."
In recent years, there has been a surge in the disposal of televisions and computer monitors because of the new flat panel and LCD models flooding the market, said Jim Lawler, sales manager for Quicksilver, the Tampa company that recycles the electronic items brought to the Lena Road site. These outdated televisions and computer monitors contain cathode ray tubes, or CRTs, which can have as much as six to eight pounds of lead in the glass. Circuit boards found in many electronics also can harbor lead-based solder and other potentially hazardous metals.
"Obviously, that's something you wouldn't want at a landfill," said Lawler.
Lawler predicted Quicksilver would accumulate about 12,000 to 15,000 pounds or 18 to 20 full pallets of e-scrap during the Saturday collection. It's only a "fraction" of what the company recycles on a daily basis at its Tampa plant, he said.
Once the electronics are dropped off at the landfill, workers sort them, load them and take them back to the company's recycling plant where they are disassembled for parts, with leftover pieces safely disposed. About 5 percent to 10 percent of the parts are reusable, and a small amount of gold can be recycled after extracted from the circuit boards, said Lawler.
"It's a lot of labor, but it does protect some of the natural resources," he said. "Nothing is being mined to get these metals."
"This stuff shouldn't be dumped where it shouldn't be," he said.
Paul Roach had the back of his pickup filled with an assortment of old televisions, stereos, microwaves, paint, batteries, hazardous household chemicals and telephones. The manager of the Gold Tree Co-Op, a 55 and over manufactured home community in Bradenton, Roach helps residents dispose of hazardous items by offering to pick them up and haul them to the collection site.
Collection days
The next collection day will be Oct. 20 and three sites will be open for collection of hazardous materials. Only the Lena Road site accepts e-scrap.
• Palmetto Fairgrounds on 14th Avenue from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
• Public Works Utility Operations Complex at Cortez and 66th Street from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
• Lena Road Landfill from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
For more information, call 708-8561
