Creating something new from junk

County residents brought tons of outdated and unwanted electronics to a special recycling event held Saturday at the Governmental Center in Wentworth.

Tyrone McCain of Reidsville delivered a truckload of computers to the e-cycling site Saturday afternoon.

“I heard about the event on TV and decided it was time to get rid of some old computers,” he said.

McCain brought four computers he stored away at home after upgrading to new computers during the last few years. When he heard about the e-cycling event, he thought it would be a good way to get rid of the old units and keep them out of the landfill.

“I figured this would be a great opportunity to do my part for the environment and get these computers recycled instead of just trashing them,” he said.

A countywide e-cycling event in January collected nearly 15 tons of recyclable products, including 173 computer monitors and 177 televisions.

Jack Hairston shares McCain’s thoughts about recycling electronics, but Saturday’s event has an even deeper meaning for him. Hairston is plant manager for Synergy Recycling – the Madison-based electronics recycler assisting with the county’s e-cycling efforts.

“For me, events like this are about giving new life to things people usually just throw away,” Hairston said. “Folks bring items here because it’s just junk to them, but we can take that old equipment and create something new out of it.”

Hairston said Synergy views recycling products like computers, monitors, printers, televisions and small electronics as a chance to transform items at the end of their usefulness into something useful.

“In fact, that’s what I really love about this business,” Hairston said.

A former manager at Unifi, Hairston came to Synergy in 2006. One of the things that attracted him to the recycling firm was the 180-degree turnaround from the world of textiles.

“Electronics recycling is an amazing business,” he said. “It’s one of the fastest growing industries around today and it’s only going to become more necessary as states ban these products from landfills.”

Although residential electronics are currently allowed in landfills, a ban on all products like computer, monitors and televisions is scheduled to go into effect in July 2011.

The problem with disposing of electronics in landfills is that cathode-ray tubes in televisions and monitors contain lead. Other electronic products contain a variety of hazardous materials such as mercury. Any of these materials could seriously contaminate the ground-water supply of surrounding communities.

Conversely, those same products also contain valuable renewable resources such as aluminum, glass, copper and plastic that can be recycled or reused.
Synergy Recycling opened in 2000, responding to the growing need for proper disposal of electronic products. As people continually upgrade equipment to keep up with electronic advances, the old products end up in solid waste dumps and landfills.

Hairston said Synergy specializes in recycling and remarketing materials from obsolete, end-of-life products, as well as refurbishing and remarketing reusable products.

“We have partnerships with counties and communities across the state for recycling events like the one here in Rockingham County,” Hairston said. “We also have regular pick-ups scheduled with a number of businesses and industries that recycle electronic products.”

Synergy also maintains two satellite-warehousing hubs in the Roanoke, Va., area. Electronics from the Virginia area are stored there until complete truckloads are ready for transport to the corporate headquarters in Madison.

The company recently into a new 134,000-square-foot facility in Madison – the former Liberty Embroidery plant on Gibson Drive. Synergy is also currently renting temporary storage space for recyclables already collected at the former Liberty Screenprint plant on K-Fork Road.

Saturday was the county’s fifth e-cycling event in four years, according to solid waste program manager Jack Brinkley.

“We try to do a least one event like this every year now,” Brinkley said. “Every item that’s properly disposed of at one of these events is another that doesn’t run the risk of contaminating our county’s water supply. We just want to encourage our citizens to get used to recycling everything possible.”

Saturday also saw the creation of a new partnership for the county and Synergy. More than a dozen employees from the county’s Wal-Mart stores volunteered to assist in collecting, sorting and packing the electronic products brought in by county residents.

“This kind of event really requires a lot of people and it wouldn’t be possible without volunteers like these Wal-Mart employees,” Brinkley said. “We’re here for several hours and see a lot of cars. It takes a lot of work and we appreciate any help we can get.”

Brinkley was not sure when the county’s next e-cycling event would be held, but suspected there would be one around the first of the year.

“That’s usually the best time for an event like this,” he said. “People are always getting new televisions, computers and electronics for Christmas, and they need to get rid of the old ones. That means we get a lot of the old products in the new year.”