The Solid Waste Disposal Authority in Huntsville, Operation Green Team, the Recycling Alliance of North Alabama, and other local organizations teamed up to make sure people got a head start on going green in 2020.
Today, people in Madison County got to drop off their old electronics and other holiday waste at a “Christmas Clean Up” event.
Operation Green Team Director, Joy McKee, said, “Everybody is always wondering what to do about their Christmas trees, their live Christmas trees. Well, we’re actually mulching them today, and that mulch is going to be used by the city of Huntsville, the city of Madison on projects that we’re mulching anyway. Saves us money!”
Those who got new TV’s, cell phones, and laptops for Christmas got to drop off their old ones today.
“There’s heavy metals in old electronics, particularly old monitors. Those old CRT monitors had a lot of lead in them,” said SWDA Executive Director Doc Holladay. “Lead will leach into groundwater and oil, and by doing this, we’re removing those heavy metals and actually taking them out so that they don’t harm the environment.”
There was a good turn out today. Nearly 1,000 cars dropped off items to be properly disposed of or recycled. People with the SWDA say more and more people in Madison County are going green, especially since the launch of the new recycling program.
“We’ve got more people recycling now than we had a year ago as far as actively recycling, not just enrolled in the program. Our volumes are up, and we think they will continue to go up,” said Holladay.
People at the event say they hope 2020 is an even greener year.
“I hope that our recycling program here in Huntsville continues to grow. People are passionate about it, and we certainly appreciate people doing events like this,” said McKee.
If you missed this event today, the Solid Waste Disposal Authority is always taking old electronics. You can drop them off at 1055 A Cleaner Way in Huntsville from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekdays.
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