By Katie Uhlan
Journal Inquirer
April 21, 2007

The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority hopes to increase its electronics recycling in 2007 and will hold a collection on Saturday, April 28, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the CRRA Trash Museum in Hartford.

The pileup of used electronics is becoming a nationwide concern. Americans will scrap about 400 million units of consumer electronics each year in this decade, according to the International Association of Electronics Recyclers.

Between 2000 and 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that over 500 million personal computers will become obsolete.

Residents of Bolton, Coventry, East Hartford, East Windsor, Ellington, Enfield, Hebron, Manchester, South Windsor, Suffield, Tolland, Vernon, and Windsor Locks can bring their used noncommercial electronics to the collection. Proof of residency is required.

Acceptable items include laptops, mobile telephones, microwaves, personal computers, remote controls, stereos, televisions, and others. For a full listing visit:

www.crra.org/pages/recy_electronics.htm.

Another collection for the towns listed above will be held on May 19 in Enfield at the Stanley Jablonski Public Works Complex, 40 Moody Road, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Since the beginning of the electronics recycling program in 1999 CRRA has collected more than 2.6 million pounds of unwanted and obsolete electronics.

CRRA contracts with a firm specially licensed and equipped to collect unwanted electronics, remove the dangerous substances and salvage recyclable parts, according to the agency's Web site.