County cleans up at collection event

In four hours, nine tons of electronics and 1,000 pounds of clothing were gathered from 140 participants in Niagara County's electronics and clothing collection event on Saturday outside the South Wilson Fire Department.

This event was held by the Niagara County Environmental Management Council and the Niagara County Division of Environmental and Solid Waste Management.

"What is staggering is that we averaged 130 pounds of e-waste per participant, which is greater than the statewide average of 95 pounds," said Dawn M. Timm, county environmental coordinator.

She attributed the success of the event to two factors: residents realizing that electronic recycling is favorable to disposal, and neighbors helping neighbors.

"Many of the participants I spoke with came with pickup beds and trunks full of televisions, monitors and computers. When asked, most indicated that they asked their family and neighbors if they had anything; and before they knew it they had a full car," she said.

The majority of the participants were from Wilson and Cambria, however a fair amount of participants traveled from as far as Wheatfield, Pendleton and North Tonawanda.

All electronics that were collected will be recycled by Maven Technologies at their Rochester facility.  Maven maintains a "zero landfill policy for all materials they collect, meaning nothing ends up in a landfill. All clothing collected was donated locally to Community Missions.