Conscious Choice: Recycle your old computers

South Side Shorebank is a “triple bottom line” financial institution that invests in “people and their communities to create economic equity and a healthy environment.” Shorebank was recently honored for their twenty years of work with Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank, which specializes in what’s known as “micro” loans—loans to buy hand looms, goats and garden seeds—to help the poor of Bangladesh. Bank local with Shorebank and keep your money in Chicago. Visit shorebankcorp.com.

January 2007 | Ask the Green Commish

Recycle your old computers — and more

By Sadhu A. Johnston

Dear Commish: I heard there is this place the city just opened where I can recycle my old computer and throw out all these old chemicals and paints and stuff. What’s that all about? — Toxic Waste Dump in my Garage

Dear Ghastly Garage: Chicagoans can take all kinds of waste products to the City’s new Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Center!

This $3.8 million 24,000 square-foot permanent facility officially opened on November 18. Located at 1150 N. North Branch Street (2 blocks east of the Kennedy Expressway at Division), the recycling center accepts all kinds of waste materials that you shouldn’t just throw away in the alley or dumpster like antifreeze, used motor oil, old gasoline, oil-based paints, paint thinners, aerosol paints, herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, lawn chemicals, solvents, drain cleaners, cleaning products, pool chemicals, hobby chemicals, mercury, fluorescent lamps and bulbs, and cell phones for recycling or safe disposal. And, of course, computers!

These materials are accepted during the facility’s hours of operation: Tuesdays from 7am-noon; Thursdays from 2pm-7pm, and the first Saturday of every month from 8am-3pm. The Department will also continue to hold neighborhood collection events throughout the year.

This new facility has the capacity to divert up to 500 tons of obsolete and out-of-date electronics from area landfills, and we expect to divert another 500 tons of discarded batteries.

One of the most exciting aspects of the new facility is the computer recycling job training initiative. Computers are one of the largest growing waste streams in the world. Sixty million PCs will be sold this year in the U.S., and 90 percent of those will replace existing systems. That is a tremendous amount of waste and we hope to do our part in keeping as many of those computers out of landfills.

The City has partnered its Greencorps Chicago program with Computers for Schools, OAI and WRD Environmental to develop a training initiative for ex-offenders that will provide them with viable job skills and help bridge the digital divide. Obsolete computers will be broken down and recycled and newer computers will be refurbished. The refurbished computers will be made available to local schools, non-profit groups and low-income families for a low cost and will include technical support and warranties.

As part of the 2006 Environmental Action Agenda, Chicago has committed to building all of its new buildings to a minimum LEED Silver level with a target of Gold. This is one of the most ambitious environmental building standards established anywhere in the country and the new Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Center is no exception. In addition to a green roof, the building features the first solar wall in the State of Illinois. This wall will absorb heat and reduce energy consumption. The building was also constructed from existing and recycled materials, it recycles heat and, in an effort to reduce the site’s impact on our sewer system, all rain falling on the site is collected and infiltrates into the soil or is filtered and released into the Chicago River.

The site is also one of fifteen drop-off locations for residents to bring recyclable materials such as paper, plastics and glass. These recycling drop-off centers are spread throughout the City to make it convenient for all residents. The drop-off center on site is located outside near the southeast corner of the facility and will be open during daylight hours seven days a week.

I hope this explains what the new facility is all about and that everyone will appreciate how this new building tackles so many different issues. Keeping our homes and families safe, providing viable job training and future employment for ex-offenders and underemployed Chicagoans, and keeping tons of harmful materials and electronics out of landfills all prove that this is a gem of a facility that provides second chances in more ways than one.

To learn more about the new Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Center, visit cityofchicago.org/environment.

Sadhu A. Johnston is commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Environment.

Recommend this page to a friend

Top Ten pages recommended to friends: