CONWAY — Recycling electronic waste can be a real pain in the printer.
The Faulkner County Solid Waste Management District, in cooperation with the Conway Sanitation Department, plans to make the task easier with a free e-waste drive, said Jack Bell, the city’s chief of staff.
The e-waste recycling drive is scheduled for 8 a.m. to noon Friday for businesses, and the same time Saturday for Faulkner County residents, who will need to show identification.
The drive, held annually, has a new location. The Faulkner County Waste Management District and the city have partnered with JSI Metal and Recycling, 1605 E. Oak St. in Conway, for the event.
“I think it’s going to be a good partnership,” Bell said. “This will be more handy for people in the county and Conway because it’s not at the landfill. It’ll be easier for us because we don’t have to transport [the e-waste].”
In the past, the Conway Sanitation Department has contracted with a business in Texarkana, Texas, to haul the electronic waste. In the past few years, an arrangement was worked out in which the business hauled the e-waste for free.
Jennifer Bradford, education coordinator for the Faulkner County Solid Waste Management District, said residents usually have to pay a fee to dispose of their electronic waste.
Items accepted during the drive “include anything with a computerized chip in it,” Bradford said. That includes televisions, computers, DVD players and videocassette players. Fluorescent bulbs will not be accepted this year.
Free hard-drive shredding will be available during the event, too.
“With residents, just bring [the recycling] in; we’ll have a crew there to unload it,” Bradford said. “Businesses, if they have large amounts, bring it palletized, or bring the manpower to unload it.”
Raegan Miller, electronics recycling manager at JSI, said the company ships the items to another certified vendor.
“Everyone we recycle to has to be certified — it makes sure people are doing the proper things with the recycled material, not burning it in landfills and stuff like that,” she said.
The free e-waste drives are popular with residents, Bradford said.
“We usually have well over 400 or 500 vehicles full, just residents,” she said.
Along with their recycling, people need to bring their patience.
“When they come, pay attention to whoever is directing traffic because we’re going to have a lot, a lot, a lot of traffic going through there,” she said.
More information is available by emailing Bradford at jennifer@fcsolidwaste.com or by calling (501) 336-0758.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.