RESIDENTIAL ELECTRONIC SCRAP RECYCLING PILOT PROGRAM BEGINS
Beginning Monday, October 8, 2001, City of Houston residents can bring their electronic scrap items to the Solid Waste Management Department's Environmental Service Center and Westpark Consumer Recycling Center.
Residential electronic scrap items accepted by the City of Houston are monitors, televisions, printers, keyboards, mice, scanners, fax machines, telephone handsets, VCRs, CPUs, cellular phones without batteries and other small consumer electronics.
The Environmental Service Center, 11500 South Post Oak, is open every Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the 2nd Saturday of each month, except holidays.
The Westpark Consumer Recycling Center, 5900 Westpark, is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except holidays.
During the September 18th City Council session, Mayor Lee P. Brown and Council unanimously passed the agreement for the Residential Electronic Scrap Recycling Program between the City of Houston and Recycle America, Inc. (a subsidiary of Houston-based Waste Management, Inc). Through this decision, the City of Houston appropriated $30,000 this year to pay for the processing and the recovery fee of residential electronic scrap items.
Computers and related components contain hazardous materials that can leach into a community's water supply. Cathode ray tubes (CRTs), circuit boards, batteries, and mercury switches contain hazardous materials, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and chromium.
"As computers become a common household item, the City of Houston, along with other municipalities across the nation, faces the daunting challenge of providing a responsible alternative. We are excited the City of Houston can now provide Houstonians with a safe, environmentally-friendly opportunity for their electronic scrap recycling," said Ed Chen, Deputy Director of the Recycling Division of the Solid Waste Management Department.
Funding for the Electronic Scrap Recycling Program will be provided through the Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) fund #236. This money does not come from the City's general fund or from grant funds. This SEP fund, administered by the TNRCC, comes from fines collected from private companies who had committed environmental violations. These funds are to be used to support approved projects with beneficial environmental goals, such as the Electronic Scrap Recycling Pilot Program.
