City of Buffalo, Shatter I.T. and Sunnking to host fifth annual 'ecyclebflo' event on June 25

Daylong event offers safe recycling and secure destruction of old electronics; proceeds to benefit Educational Technology Foundation of WNY

The City of Buffalo, Shatter I.T., Sunnking Electronics, in partnership with six other local Buffalo businesses, will host "ecyclebflo" on Tuesday, June 25, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Niagara Square (new location) in downtown Buffalo. Residents are encouraged to responsibly recycle their unwanted electronics at this free event.

A donation from the proceeds will be made to the Educational Technology Foundation of WNY, a grassroots effort aimed at increasing the access and equity of technology in education, especially to under-served populations.

In addition to the collection event, there will be contests, raffles, prizes, music and more. The first 100 participants to drop off electronics for recycling at this year's event will receive a free eco-friendly water bottle. There will also be a "Shatter Zone," an area where participants can take a sledge hammer to old electronics, such as printers and copiers.

"This year, our goal is to collect 40,000 pounds of material (up from 30,000 pounds in 2012), which will be disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner. Statistics show that only one in seven discarded electronic products are properly recycled, with most ending up in a municipal landfill. This event gives downtown businesses a convenient way to properly recycle old electronics," said Peter Ronca, Shatter's president and CEO.

"This is our fifth year co-sponsoring this event," said Adam Shine, sales manager at Sunnking. "It started as a partnership with Shatter I.T. to benefit Ed-Tech, and we now have six additional sponsors. We've seen tremendous growth and interest in this event over the first four years, and we're excited to continue building on the success we've already achieved."

Local businesses can contact Sunnking for a scheduled pickup if they are unable to make it to Niagara Square on June 25. Call Sunnking at 716-685-4577 or email [email protected].

Residents are encouraged to bring electronics such as laptops, desktops, computer accessories, TVs, monitors, audio/video equipment, mp3 players, communications equipment, servers and IT equipment, printers, scanners, copiers, fax machines, cell phones, PDAs, medical/lab equipment, and anything else with a circuit board or cord. Check Sunnking's list of acceptable materials at www.sunnking.com/acceptable-materials before bringing any items to the event.

"ecyclebflo" is a collaborative event sponsored by The City of Buffalo, Shatter I.T., Sunnking, EMCS, Channel 7, Ozone Design, Gino & Joe's, and InfoTech Niagara, with Sunnking coordinating the logistics of the electronics collection and recycling.