Since the Wrangell Cooperative Association started offering e-waste recycling around 2016, IGAP technician Kim Wickman has been surprised to see growing demand for the service.
“We thought we would have less,” she said, after a few major purges cleared most of the backlog of old electronics off the island. “But minus the COVID year, we’ve had a bit of a steady increase as people are realizing the importance of it. We get a lot of phone calls over the year about when our next e-waste event is.”
Residents with old electronics crowding their closets and garages won’t need to wait much longer. The WCA’s upcoming e-waste event is scheduled for March 30 and 31 from noon to 5 p.m. and for April 1 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the WCA Cultural Center — also known as the carving shed — on Front Street.
In the past, the recycling effort was funded through donations and the Indian General Assistance Program (IGAP), but this year, the WCA is charging 25 cents per pound. The proceeds will all go toward shipping and processing the collected materials.
But if the cost is prohibitive, the organization is willing to be flexible. “We’re hopeful to get 25 (cents), but if people don’t have it, we’re not going to turn anyone away,” said Wickman. “The real push is to collect as much as we can and get it off the island.”
Old answering machines, audio players, cameras, CD-ROMS, computers, game consoles, modems, tablets, photocopiers, printers, radios, speakers, TVs, typewriters and video players or recorders are all eligible for recycling. “We’re accepting everything with a brain or a cord,” said Wickman.
One of the most common items she collects are flat-screen TVs, which have been appearing more frequently at e-waste recycling events in recent years. “Unfortunately, they don’t have the life that the big tube TVs had, so they seem to be burning up pretty quickly,” she said.
There are some exceptions to the brain-and-cord rule. “White goods,” including kitchen appliances like refrigerators and microwaves, are ineligible. The same goes for vacuum cleaners and medical equipment, which the drive does not have the capacity to handle.
To dispose of medical equipment, Wickman recommends reaching out to the Public Works Department to learn more about their requirements for dealing with possibly hazardous waste.
Once WCA collects materials, it will begin its complex processing and shipping procedures. “Any form of recycling in Wrangell is going to be a very hard and usually very drawn-out process,” said Wickman. “With e-waste, it’s very expensive to have it processed.”
Laptops, for example, must be wiped clean and disposed of properly to ensure that owners’ private information is safe. “We go through and depending on what it is … we will rub it down with a large magnet and clip any wires that are exposed.”
To aid in processing, community members should remove ink or paper from their printers, snip wires and tape a piece of cardboard over any broken screens to ensure that IGAP workers don’t get injured during handling.
The waste will be sent to Total Reclaim recycling center in Kent, Washington. To help Total Reclaim’s workers, Wickman organizes Wrangell’s e-waste into pallets by type, so that computer towers are packed on one pallet and screens on another. The recycling center will remove any valuable materials in the waste, like gold or other precious metals, then shred or melt the rest.
According to estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. businesses and consumers discarded 2.37 million tons of e-waste in 2009. Only 25% of it was recycled. The majority ended up in landfills where its valuable components could not be recovered.
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