NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Earth Matters, a group of concerned citizens from eight churches representing five faiths in Hutchinson, have been focused on reducing, reusing and recycling for years now, but specifically with the proliferation of electronic devices, they want Hutchinson residents to know that E-Waste can and should be recycled.
"E-Waste is actually the fastest growing stream of trash that we know of," said Garth Strand with Earth Matters. "We're not doing a great job at this point of getting it back in circulation, recycling it. There's a lot of precious metals involved in the electronic devices."
You can recycle E-Waste locally.
"On Main Street, we have Sanford Computer Works," said Lois Smith with Earth Matters. "That's 20 South Main. They take all E-Waste. I went in just to check when he said it, because I couldn't believe he really meant all E-Waste. When you walk in the store, there on the left is a huge cardboard box. He took me through and he sorted. They get battery chargers, they get disks from people, they get all the computer things that you might expect, but they also have tools. They take anything that is not a cathode TV. They'll take flat screen TVs."
There is a lot of E-Waste that does not get back into the system.
"The World Health Organization said currently, only 17% of E-Waste is recycled," Smith said. "The rest is landing in landfills and all of the toxins from that, and the lead, leach into our soil."
The UN defines E-waste as any discarded products with a battery or plug, and features toxic and hazardous substances such as mercury, that can pose severe risk to human and environmental health.
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