SIDNEY — A number of government agencies and private businesses are once again partnering for a community recycling event, Sidney Mayor Mike Barhorst announced Monday. Along with electronics recycling, document shredding, prescription drug disposal and book recycling will be offered again this year.
Partnering for the event are the city of Sidney, the Shelby County Commissioners, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Minster Bank, the Sidney-Shelby County Health Department, the North Central Ohio Solid Waste District, Shelby County Libraries, the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency, the Shelby County Agricultural Society, the Sidney-Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Goodwill Easter Seals of the Miami Valley (GESMV).
Dubbed Super Saturday Recycling Day, the event is scheduled to be held Saturday, April 16, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Shelby County Fairgrounds. The event is being announced well in advance so that individuals have ample time to gather up the items for recycling. The early announcement also allows businesses that may have purchased new computers, copy machines, and other electronic devices as a part of a normal replacement cycle will know that they will have an avenue for proper disposal of their no longer needed equipment.
Working and nonworking items that will be accepted include computers, monitors, hard drives, printers, cell phones, toner cartridges, keyboards, mice, speakers, cords and cables, software, routers and switches, fire walls, servers and scanners. Small household appliances that have cords will also be accepted.
No-longer-needed television sets will be accepted. However, because they have limited parts that can be recycled and there is a considerable charge for disposal of the screens because of the high lead content of the glass, there is a charge for television sets, even if they still work.
Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley is a participant in the Dell Reconnect program. As a result, they follow the highest standards for environmental safety. The program helps GESMV provide a variety of jobs for people with disabilities in the community. In fact, the electronic recycling provides full-time employment for 16 individuals in the Dayton-based GESMV facility.
Minster Bank will again be providing on-site document shredding service for individuals and businesses. Because of the expected demand for shredding services, patrons are limited to two file boxes of paper documents. Minster Bank has provided this service to their customers at their Sidney location since 2008.
“Minster Bank is excited to again be participating in Super Saturday,” Minster Bank Branch Manager Rhonda Keister stated. “We have provided ‘Shred-it’ for our customers and are looking forward to once again offering the program to the greater community. The program provides secure, confidential document shredding to all residents of Shelby County.”
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office will also be participating in the event again this year, collecting no-longer-needed drugs so that they can be disposed of property. “I’d like to encourage families to clean out their medicine cabinets and bring their out-of-date prescriptions to the Fairgrounds on Super Saturday,” Lenhart stated. “Take advantage of this community drug take-back program that allows you to bring in your unused drugs for proper disposal. I would again ask that you please not flush unused drugs down the sewer system, as they will only pollute our rivers and oceans.”
Book recycling, sponsored by the Shelby County Libraries, will also again be a part of the planned program. Books of all sorts, hardbacks, paperbacks, even that set of old encyclopedias will be accepted. Books that cannot be used by the library will be recycled.
Super Saturday organizers were informed earlier in the year that GESMV has been re-evaluating its participation in recycling events. As a result, this could be the last year for the acceptance of old electronics at an event of this nature.
“While we remain hopeful that GESMV will return again next year,” Barhorst said, “we understand their decision is market-driven. If they cannot sell the recycled materials, they cannot afford to collect the products. As a result, I want to especially encourage residents and businesses to ‘clean house’ and get rid of old computers and accessories.”
Reminders of the event will be broadcast on 105.5 TAM FM in the week leading up to the event. A live remote featuring personality Joe Laber is planned from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. the day of the event.
Like the city’s official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cityofsidneyoh for event details and reminders.
Local businesses that have a large quantity of electronic devices to donate may contact Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley for pickup at their location. Additional information can be obtained by contacting GESMV’s e-cycling program by phone (937-461-8463) or by email ([email protected]). Information is also available by contacting City Clerk Kari Egbert (937-498-8143).
