Electronics Banned from N.C. Landfills, Can Be Recycled in Orange County

NOTE: The following information was released from the Orange County Solid Waste Management Department. For more information, call 968-2788 or e-mail recycling@co.orange.nc.us

Computer equipment and televisions will be banned from disposal in N.C. landfills as of July 1.

The N.C. Session Law 2010-67 — passed last year by the General Assembly — prohibits televisions, computers and computer equipment (such as laptops, desktops, monitors, printers, scanners and peripherals, like mice and keyboards) from going into the trash or being disposed in any N.C. landfill.
 
Orange County residents may recycle their electronics at all five of the solid waste convenience centers located throughout the county during hours of operation. Visit www.co.orange.nc.us/recycling/centers.asp for details.

County residents, businesses and other non-residential entities may recycle their electronics at the Orange County Landfill, 1514 Eubanks Road in Chapel Hill, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 7:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays. Appointments should be made by phone for large loads, to allow those loads to be processed immediately.

Electronic items collected for recycling include any audio or visual data carrying devices, such as computers, monitors, mice, keyboards, televisions, IPods, scanners, printers, speakers, cables, copiers, cell phones, telephones, stereos, fax machines, CD and DVD players, cassette players, VCRs and electronic media, like cassette and VHS tapes, CDs, DVDs, and their cases. Look for the black trailers labeled “Electronics Recycling.”

Orange County has been providing residents with electronics recycling since 2002. The county will recycle close to 1 million pounds of electronics this fiscal year; that is about 11 tons per week or 8 pounds per person per year!

Orange County contracts with Synergy Recycling, an electronics recycling firm based in North Carolina. Synergy is certified with numerous environmental and employee health and safety standards, and its downstream markets also are certified to be environmentally sound and non-polluting.

Other components of the new state law are designed to create statewide recycling opportunities for discarded electronics and to place significant responsibilities on electronics manufacturers to help fund and create those opportunities. All computer manufacturers are required to offer at least a free mail-back program for their own equipment, and some will offer additional kinds of recycling options. A number of retailers also offer recycling of electronics, as do some nonprofit and charitable agencies.

A comprehensive list of recycling options for residents and businesses in North Carolina can be found at: http://www.p2pays.org/electronics/.