Moorestown residents can now drop off any electronic waste – including all-in-one computers, printers and televisions – at the Department of Public Works yard, the result of a request from homeowners.
Director of Public Works Don Lloyd noted how residents came to him in April asking if the department could accept the waste.
“We used recycling money to purchase this used container and entered into an agreement with Magnum Recycling in Pennsauken, and now we recycle a little over 2,000 pounds a month of electronic waste here,” he said.
Acceptable electronics also include toner cartridges, microwave ovens, cell phones and telephones, aluminum, brass and copper.
“So far the feedback has been very good,” Lloyd noted. “Some people didn’t know that we had this. They started years ago with recycling to pull it out of landfills basically.”
Lloyd said Magnum brings discarded items to its enclosed warehouse and disassembles them for recycling, after which the e-waste goes to a processing facility.
“People don’t know what to do with it, so they just toss it on the side of the road,” he noted of the e-waste initially generated by residents, who can also bring items to the yard that are missed during routine trash pickups.
Earlier this year, Mayor Nicole Gillespie declared 2022 The Year of the Environment in Moorestown. A few months ago, the public works department purchased its first all- electric riding mower.
“We use it around here and in some areas, it’s very quiet,” Lloyd explained. “We use it for cutting around here, public works, and at other parks, if there’s activities going on near parks. It’s not as loud as a regular, conventional mower.”
Earlier this year, the township entered a recycling program with NexTrex, a manufacturer of composite decking and outdoor living products, and received a donated bench for collecting 500 pounds of plastic.
The township is again participating in the program, and Lloyd encouraged residents to drop off recycled plastics such as dry-cleaning and newspaper bags and bubble wrap to NexTrex boxes located at public works, the library, town hall and the rec department.
“We’re averaging around 100 pounds a month,” he noted. “We more than hit our expectations of hitting 500 pounds.”
E-waste can be dropped off Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, from 8 a.m. to noon. The public works yard is at 601 E. Third St.
