Another 41 individuals and businesses took advantage of Thursday’s half-day “E-rase your E-waste” collection event to drop off 155 computer monitors, 71 computer processors, 55 printers, and 32 television sets for recycling, along with numerous smaller computer components and other electronic devices.

“It was another great day,” Jackie Couture, co-chair of the E-rase your Ewaste Committee, said. “Altogether, we’ve filled 20 pallets from our two Thursday collections this year, which I’d estimate is very close to the 19,000 pounds total we collected in 2009. And we still have our September weekend event to go, which is where we typically collect the vast majority of our e-waste each year.”

The weekend event is Sept. 10-11 at the Richland County Shop and is open to everyone at no cost, according to Couture. Times are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The shop is located next to the Fairgrounds at 2140 West Holly in Sidney. Couture attributed the increase in participation this year to the group’s new e-cycler, UNICOR, who is taking all approved items for free. “We’re very excited to be able to offer this service free to the public this year,” Couture said. “While we know most people want to do the right thing and recycle their e-waste properly, many couldn’t previously because of the cost. Now that we’ve found an e-cycler that can provide the service for free, we’ve seen a lot more participation at our Thursday mini-collections and expect to see more at our September weekend event as well.”

Volunteers Needed

for Sept. 10-11

However, one of the reasons the service is free is that local volunteers are palletizing and shrink wrapping the e-waste for shipping using pallets and packing materials donated by local businesses, Couture said. “We’ve had great help so far, but could always use more, particularly for our weekend event Sept. 10 -11.”

Anyone who can spare a couple of hours or more to volunteeer at that event is encouraged to call Couture at 433-9422 or fellow E-rase your E-waste organizer Butch Renders at 433-2220 to sign up.

Couture also thanked several area businesses and agencies for providing the packaging, pallets, work space and promotional support needed for this year’s collection, including Sidney Health Center, Lower Yellowstone REA, Sidney Sugars, Sidney Millwork, Richland County Solid Waste, Richland Opportunities Inc. and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

The E-rase your E-waste effort in Sidney is coordinated by members of the Richland County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), Richland Opportunities Inc., and volunteers with other community organizations including the RSVP and CERT programs.