Welcome to the last week in December, also known as the Season of Excess. The Columbian can’t do much about those extra calories showing up on your bathroom scales or the extra inches that rendered obsolete your favorite belt.
But we’ve got solutions for three areas of aggravating abundance all over Clark County. First, there must be countless old computers, used televisions and other discarded electronics devices. After all, it was just five nights ago that Santa unloaded his sleigh of new stuff. We’re also assuming there’s the attendant abundance of packaging block foam piled up in local living rooms, closets and garages. And Christmas trees are losing their appeal almost as fast as they’re losing their needles.
Here’s what you need to know:
At least 15 sites in Clark County accept without charge old computers, monitors, televisions and other electronics devises. They are listed at https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/recycle, which is operated by the state Ecology Department. The state’s free electronics disposal law — passed by the Legislature in 2006 due largely to the efforts of state Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver — applies to households, small businesses, school districts, small governments, special purposes districts and charities, but not to large businesses.
One minor glitch: As Erik Robinson reported in Monday’s Columbian, a new Oregon law requires a $15 disposal fee for equipment taken to West Van Materials Recovery Center in the Vancouver Lake lowlands. That’s because the center barges the waste up the Columbia River for disposal at the Finley Buttes landfill in Boardman, Ore.
However, the 15 local sites listed on the Washington state Department of Ecology Web site still accept the old stuff for free. West Van officials say they’re telling anyone who brings in electronics equipment about the free disposal sites, which include Goodwill centers and numerous local electronics stores.
It’s important that electronics waste be disposed of properly, because the items include harmful material such as lead, hexavalent chromium, mercury and flame-retardant material.
As for the block foam that protects the electronics during shipping, on Saturday the nonprofit group Computer Reuse Education and Marketing will accept, for free, block foam brought to Clark College. The collection will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the Yellow 1 parking lot on the west side of Fort Vancouver Way. CREAM also will accept computers and other electronics equipment except for televisions or microwave ovens. Block foam must be clean and bagged, and no plastic-wrapped yellow urethane foam, hot tub covers or packing peanuts will be accepted. For more information, visit upgradeyourcommunity.org.
Here are three ways to dispose of Christmas trees. Local Boy Scouts will pick up the trees at curbside on Saturday starting at 9 a.m. Service areas include school district boundaries excluding Green Mountain and rural Battle Ground. The Scouts suggest a $7 donation (tape envelope to your front door), but that is optional.
Also, county yard-debris recycling crews will collect trees (5 feet or shorter) placed near the cart on regular collection days. If the tree is in addition to the 96-gallon limit of yard debris, a fee of $2.12 to $3.05 will be charged depending on the collection area. Trees also can be taken to local collection sites listed at www.co.clark.wa.us/recycle. (Click on “Christmas tree recycling.”)
Let’s all help preserve our precious and fragile Northwest environment by making sure all leftovers from the Season of Excess are disposed of properly.
