Detroit Zoo Collects Outdated Electronics

ROYAL OAK, MI — Give the Detroit Zoo your tired TVs, your dusty DVD players and wretched radios from your teeming basements and they will help give them new life. The Detroit Zoo will collect old and obsolete electronics on America Recycles Day on Nov. 15.

Electronics can be dropped off for recycling from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the 10 Mile Road parking lot near the gazebo that Friday. The DZS will accept all electronics, including radios, printers, computers, televisions, VHS and DVD players and cell phones.

Cell phone production – and its reliance on an ore found in Africa called coltan – is damaging wild habitats and decimating populations of gorillas and other animals. A sustainability talk at the Great Apes of Harambee at 12:30 p.m. will offer guests a greater understanding of how recycling old cell phones can help animals in the wild.

“As a leader in environmental sustainability, we are committed to bettering the world for both humans and wildlife,” said Rachel Handbury, DZS manager of sustainability. “This event gives us the opportunity to engage the community in joining us on our Green Journey.”

For this event, the DZS has contracted with companies that take old electronics, separate commodities such as aluminum, copper and steel, and recycle those parts with the goal of reducing the amount of e-waste that ends up in landfills.

The Belle Isle Nature Center will also collect batteries, lightbulbs and eyeglasses for recycling and provide information regarding drop-off sites in Metro Detroit for hard-to-recycle items.