Haines Friends of Recycling volunteers packed up 17,414 pounds of electronics at the group’s ninth annual electronic waste collection event held June 5-6.
Boosted by some “gigantic televisions” and computers from the former Klukwan, Inc. office, the poundage was the third highest in the event’s history, said group leader Melissa Aronson. A little more than 12,000 pounds was collected last year.
“It’s amazing what people still have stored away. I expect eventually we’ll see a drop-off in volume because computers are getting smaller and everything else is getting smaller, but it’s pretty amazing,” Aronson said.
Collected items included the old scoreboard from the Karl Ward Gymnasium and at least one computer that was fished out of the Chilkat River, she said. “That had water and seaweed in it, but it was good to get it out of the river,” Aronson said. “It’s always interesting to see what comes in.”
At 35 cents per pound, the group tries to break even on the event and typically makes a little money, though poundage values can vary widely from year to year based on shipping costs and market prices for recyclable components.
The event has collected 132,152 pounds of electronics since its inception.