by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
City Council member Elaine Brown could be just a few days away from seeing her
e-waste initiative come to fruition.
Brown introduced a resolution late last year that urges the City to take a proactive approach to collecting discarded electronic items. The resolution has worked its way through various committees and is up for a Council vote Tuesday.
“I was just looking at the different environmental issues across the United States and I saw e-waste crop up a couple times,” said Brown.
The proliferation of computers and other electronic items has been a boon to information junkies but has also created a glut of hazardous waste for junkyards. Hidden inside each computer and piece of electronic gear is an array of hazardous materials. Printed circuit cards, solder joints, toner cartridges and computer monitors contain a periodic table of metals, including gold, platinum, copper and lead. The cathode ray tube in each computer monitor is host to phosphor dust and up to seven pounds of lead. Hazardous elements like barium in components and carbon dust in toner cartridges can eventually seep into ground water sources.
“There are all sorts of things in computers that could contaminate the aquifer,” said Brown.
Brown and the City’s solid waste department have arranged Jacksonville’s first E-waste collection day April 20 at the Morocco Shrine Auditorium. Held in conjunction with a computer show, local residents are invited to bring their old computers, printers, keyboards, monitors and other peripherals to the auditorium at 3800 S. St. Johns Bluff Rd. The City has arranged with Jack’s Recycling, Inc. to collect the waste at no charge to residents.
“One of the problems is we don’t know what’s out there,” said Chris Pearson, operations manager for the City’s solid waste department. “So we’re setting this one event up to see what kind of data we collect.”
Pearson said the department is currently developing a budget plan to implement a full-time e-waste collection service.
Along the same lines, Pearson said the City has expanded its household hazardous waste collection process. In addition to its main collection site at 2675 Commonwealth Ave., there are rotating collection sites throughout the city — one for each City Council district. The next scheduled date is March 16 in Atlantic Beach.
“It’s free for homeowners. We’ll accept paints, pesticides, paint removers and that sort of thing,” said Pearson. “We will not take explosives or poison gases.”