Electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world. What’s worse, the vast majority of it goes unrecycled, sending millions of tons to landfills across the globe each year.

In this corner of the world, there’s something you can do about it.

Bay Area Recycling for Community (BARC) will soon have the first of its Leelanau County electronic waste recycling days, during which pretty much anything that can be plugged in can be dropped off. This year will feature a greatly expanded program, with 12 days instead of the four offered in 2023.

The first date is Saturday, April 20 at the Governmental Center off M-204, with additional dates in Peshawbestown, Elmwood Township, Glen Lake and Suttons Bay. Advanced registration is required.

“Last year they had four events on the same day as the county’s household hazardous waste days, and it was just too busy,” Andy Gale, BARC’s founder and executive director, tells The Ticker. “You had 400 to 800 cars coming through, some of them with hazardous chemicals in the back seat and a trunk full of electronics.”

Gale hopes splitting up the hazardous waste and electronic days will make the situation more convenient and less overwhelming for local residents and county staff alike. It’s also likely to generate even more waste for recycling than last year.

“Last year they did about 80,000 pounds, which is the equivalent of two fully packed semi loads,” Gale says. “Television sets, computers, printers – all that stuff.”

The vast majority of what BARC receives will indeed be recycled, Gale says. The key is specialized processors “downstream” that either refurbish the devices for resale or break them downto reuse the raw materials.

The former is done in large part by BARC’s partner, eRecycle TC, which specializes in getting computers, phones and other electronic devices ready to use again. Gale says nearly all of BARC’s office computers, for instance, are devices saved from the landfill in this way.

The environmental impact of programs like this one are substantial, Gale says. 

“There’s a lot of harmful chemicals in our electronic devices. And if you put them in a landfill, these chemicals end up at the bottom, and there you’ve just got a piece of rubber between them and our environment,” Gale says. “We want to keep as much of that stuff out of the landfills to start with.”

Luckily it’s also economically feasible to recycle electronics, Gale says, as a lot of those harmful substances also have substantial value (lithium being a good example). It’s even estimated that there’s more of certain materials – namely indium, a rare metal used in touch screens – already locked up in extant electronic devices than can be reliably and/or economically produced in the future, Gale says.

And while recycling is indeed good for the environment, it’s also good for the local economy. Many people are employed in the recycling and refurbishing industries.

“By recycling something, you’re creating 10 times the jobs than you would be just by landfilling it,” Gale says. “So this is a good thing to do not only for the environment, but also the economy.”

Gale points out that the county’s hazardous waste days will carry on as separate events that also require advanced registration. In addition, there are other days in which to recycle other items like tires and mattresses.

“Bay Area Recycling for Community recycles about 15,000 mattresses a year,” Gale says. “That’s like a football field stacked 15 feet high.”

For more information, visit the BARC website or Leelanau County’s recycling page.