Ten Tons of Electronics Collected in Urbandale

Urbandale residents turned over an estimated ten tons of old TVs, computer monitors, scanners, printers, phones and other electronic appliances Saturday morning.

Two large trucks were filled with the gadgets, said Clinton Winter of Environmental Services of Iowa, which contracted with the city to collect and recycle the electronics. Winter said originally the company wasn't sure if it would fill even one truckload. 

The response was about ten times what the Adel recycling company expected, said employee Jeremy Catron. He estimated that they collected 10,000 pound of televisions alone.

Casey and Debi O'Connell of 8026 Brookview Drive, drove a vehicle filled with electronics to the city's public works facility at 9101 Hickman Road.

Casey said he closed an office in Minneapolis four years ago and ended up bringing all the computer equipment back to Iowa, storing it in his home. "This was great!" he said, of the opportunity to finally get the stuff out of his house. 

"We're going to get rid of even more stuff next year," Debi said.

The electronics recycling event was financed through a grant from the Metro Waste Authority.