Free disposal of old materials
Throwing away old electronics can be complex.
“I’ve had one person say he’s been holding onto this stuff for a solid year in his garage,” Keep Gilmer Beautiful Chair Terrill Carlson said.
That’s why Keep Gilmer Beautiful hosted an annual Electronics Recycling Event event so Gilmer County residents could dispose of their electronics for free.
This year, the event brought in enough electronics to fill a 25-foot truck Saturday, Sept. 13.
The electronics go to Atlanta Recycling Solutions.
Last year, the event bring in more than 9,000 pounds of electronics.
“That was after we had to cancel because of the hurricane, and then we had a last-minute reschedule,” Carlson said.
Shortly after the event began, people were already lining up with carloads of electronics. The event lasted until 1 p.m.
For Keep Gilmer Beautiful, this event helps save work.
The Gilmer County convenience center doesn’t take electronics, and there is no landfill in Gilmer.
“The difficulty is there’s no real place to actually have them recycled,” Carlson said.
Often, places that do recycle electronics charge by the pound.
“This stuff is very heavy,” he said.
Sometimes, people who don’t want to deal with these difficulties throw their electronics away.
Yearly events like this one mean that Gilmer County can stay beautiful and free of unnecessary trash, Carlson said.
“People are just grateful,” he said.