Solid Waste District's Earth Day Challenge supported by Whitley County residents Friday afternoon
(Talk of the Town photos by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Solid Waste District employees, with the assistance of community corrections workers, load a large semi with discarded television sets and electronic items for the Earth Day Challenge. Below, computer monitors are typically the most recycled item, but televisions were popular items this time.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
The growing pile of discarded televisions, computer monitors and electronic devices mounted as local residents cleaned their homes of unwanted items by participating in the Whitley 
County Solid Waste District’s Earth Day Challenge event Friday afternoon was shocking.
From their facility on South Line Street, Solid Waste District employees, assisted by community corrections workers, unloaded items and filled a large semi trailer, a job that took many hours to complete.
This afternoon, Solid Waste District director Jorell Tucker said, “I know we ended up with 16 skids of materials.”
“We won’t know exactly how much we collected until we get a report from Intercon Solutions,” Tucker said.
Intercon Solutions, a facility in Chicago Heights, Illinois, will effectively recycle each item, keeping it out of landfills and ensuring new uses for the materials.
“It is all de-manufactured and everything is stripped out,” Tucker said of the recycling process. “Nothing goes overseas and all of the raw materials are sold to scrap dealers.”
So, your old television might one day be reformed into something else useful.
Speaking of televisions, Tucker said the most interesting item collected yesterday was an orange and white vintage television.
The mixture of items collected yesterday seemed to be fairly balanced, Tucker said.
“Usually we get more (computer) monitors than anything else,” he said. “But with everything switching to digital and flat screen, a lot of people were bringing in their old tvs even if they were still working.”
In all, Tucker was pleased with local participation in the Earth Day Challenge, saying, “I think it was a good turnout.”
Tucker anticipates another electronics collection drive sometime in September.