January 22 – 25^th was the third year of our three-day effort titled “Clean Up, Clear Out & Repurpose” which culminated in Saturday’s public electronics recycling event.

We set aside a day for staff to organize their office – they set aside items of interest to the archives and organize paper documents for shredding and recycling. Everyone participated by joining us for a pizza lunch, including our grounds crew.

Company Electronics Recycling

On Friday employees and volunteers were invited to drop off their personal electronic items to be recycled along with items that Mount Auburn was recycling. Staff volunteered to host the drop off during the day, and the IT department brought our recycling up from storage along with batteries that the company had collected for recycling.

Eighth Annual Electronics Recycling Event Open to the Public

On Saturday January 25^th, we invited the public to bring their electronics for recycling at the Operations Center parking area on Cottage Street from 10:00AM-1:00 PM. All materials were picked up by Northeast Material Handling. The rain held off and the weather was comfortable. Issac Ahanmisi, IT Associate , Jessica Bussmann, Director of Education and Visitor Services; Corinne Elicone, Events and Outreach Coordinator; and Greg Ghazil, Preservation Supervisor turned out to host the event with me and volunteer Caleb Stewart.

This eight year attracted even larger attendance. An estimated 70 vehicles delivered items on Saturday. The oddest items coming to our collection this year: an exhaust system, a bed frame and a check embosser. We filled 17 pallets which required two truck runs to clear, that’s up from 13 pallets in 2019 for an estimated 4,250 lbs of recycling.

This effort was sponsored by Mount Auburn’s Sustainability Working Groups under the leadership of Paul Kwiatkowski, Wildlife Conservation & Sustainability Manager and by the Information Technology Department at Mount Auburn.

RECYCLED:

17 bins of electronic equipment:

~4250 lbs, 707 items recycled

~500 lbs of scrap metal

70 lbs of alkaline batteries

#1 item recycled: 70 Laptop Computers