Dixon recycling center dumping daily electronic drop-offs

DIXON – Old TVs are like crazy relatives – everybody has at least one or two, but no one knows quite how to get rid of them.

Thrift stores don't want them, your grandkids sure as heck don't want them, and the trash guys won't take them – they're illegal to dump in landfills, so stop leaving them by your mailbox, it just annoys the neighbors.

It's even getting harder to take them to the folks who used to welcome them – local nonprofit recycling centers.

Responding to a drop in the return on recyclables, especially old TVs, Secure Recycling Services is ditching its daily residential drop-off service and opting instead to keep its once-a-month event only.

Residential recyclables will be accepted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the last Friday of the month only, starting Jan. 29.

TVs and computer monitors will be accepted free of charge from Lee County residents only.

Aluminum cans still will be accepted daily.

A year and a half ago, SRS could get a quarter a pound to recycle TVs and old cathode ray tubes, or CRTs, which barely covered the cost to get them to the recycler.

Now SRS, a division of Kreider Services, must pay 10 cents to 25 cents a pound to get rid of the plastic dinosaurs – not including the cost of labor and transportation.

That's because the payback on plastic has dropped from 6 cents to 8 cents a pound down to 2 cents over those 18 months, Lisa Oelke, SRS's director of recycling, said in a news release.

That's pretty pricey for a nonprofit, considering folks are dropping TVs off at the Palmyra Road center to the tune of 10,000 to 15,000 pounds a month, said Randy Hardin, SRS operations supervisor.

Lee County already is subsidizing the monthly recycling event, which began in September.

“We have never been subsidized by the counties for our daily drop off, and it is a drain on SRS/Kreider Services to man the area for 8 hours per day for an average of three to five drop offs per day of mostly items that cost us to recycle,” Oelke said in the release.

The Ogle County Solid Waste Management Department already holds a monthly electronics recycling day the last Friday of the month at 909 Pines Road in Oregon. It accepts old TVs, but it's for county residents only.

Self Help Enterprises in Sterling, which also recycles electronics, cardboard, paper and aluminum, among other things, now charges 25 cents a pound to get rid of your old TV.

The larger thrift stores, though, like Goodwill in Sterling and Leydig in Dixon, will not take them. Neither, by the way, will Stage Two in Sterling, which is owned by Self Help. It requires you to take them to its LeFevre site.

NONPROFIT RECYCLING OPTIONS

In Lee County

Secure Recycling Services, 629 Palmyra Road in Dixon, will accept residential recyclables from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the last Friday of the month only, starting Jan. 29. If a drop-off day falls on a holiday, it will be held the Friday before.

Old tube TVs will be accepted free of charge from Lee County residents only, so proof of residency will be required. Other electronics, books and normally accepted items – cardboard, paper, plastic, metals and wire, and clothing, shoes and purses not suitable for resale – will be accepted free of charge from anyone.

Aluminum cans and Christmas lights still will be accepted from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, as will electronics from businesses, state agencies and state universities that have contracted with SRS.

Document destruction also will be done daily, for businesses and the public. For a fee based on mileage, SRS will pick up used electronics, secure documents and other items.

The recycling facility is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. As a division of Kreider Services, it provides work for about 25 people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Its fees are based on current market pricing, and nonprofits can get a reduced rate.

Go to securerecyclingservices.com or call 815-288-1602 for a complete list of acceptable items.

In Ogle County

The Ogle County Solid Waste Management Department holds its monthly electronics recycling day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. the last Friday of the month at the Ogle County Annex Building, 909 Pines Road in Oregon. If a drop-off day falls on a holiday, it will be held the Friday before.

The department also will accept items on two Saturday mornings next year: from 8 a.m. to noon April 16 and Oct. 15.

Items accepted include flat screen, tube, projection, and console TVs, computer hardware, monitors, routers, printers, copiers, scanners, FAX machines, shredders, laptops, cell phones, tablets, speakers, DVD/VCR’s, stereo equipment, radios, phone systems, answering machines, gaming systems, microwaves, extension cords, wire, Christmas lights, CFL bulbs, rechargeable batteries, and ink cartridges.

Each vehicle is limited to two tube-type TVs or monitors. Remove electronic packaging – cardboard, plastic wrap, and Styrofoam will not be accepted with electronics.

Drop-off days are for Ogle County residents only. Call 815-732-4020 or go to www.oglecounty.org for a complete list of acceptable items, and for more information on recycling electronics from businesses or on rules for nonresidents.

In Sterling

• Self Help Enterprises accepts electronic items for recycling from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at 2300 W. LeFevre Road.

The cost to recycle a TV is 25 cents a pound.

It also accepts used, nonworking and out-of-date cameras, camcorders; CD players, stereo equipment; desktop and laptop computers, monitors and accessories, including printers and ink cartridges; cell phones and telephones; VCRs and DVD players, as well as cardboard and office paper; books, newspaper and magazines; and aluminum cans.

Call 815-626-3115 for more information.

• Goodwill, 2216 E. Fourth St., does not accept old TVs, but does take working and nonworking computers and computer equipment, which it recycles in partnership with Dell, and working electronics such as VCRs, DVD and Blu-Ray players, stereos; and cell phones.

Proceeds support employment and training programs for people with disabilities.

Donations are accepted from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Call 815-625-1740 or go to goodwillni.org for more information.

RECYCLE YOUR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Extension cords also will be accepted. Rope lights, garland, live greens and wreaths, and other decorations will not.

The lights will be sent to a recycling facility where they will be separated into their components for use in new products. Any proceeds will be donated to United Way in Ogle County.

Drop-off containers are available through Jan. 31 at the Ogle County Solid Waste Management Department, 909 W. Pines Road in Oregon; Ogle County Courthouse, 105 S. Fifth St. in Oregon; city of Polo, 115 S. Franklin St.; and the Mount Morris Fire Department, 15 E. Center St.

They also can be dropped off at Secure Recycling Services, 629 Palmyra Road in Dixon, from 8 a.n. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday all year round.

Remove all packaging from lights and do not bag them.

Call 815-732-4020 for more information.