Obsolete personal computers, outdated microwave ovens and old bedding can find new life at a Cook County-funded recycling center at South Suburban College in South Holland.
Called the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials, the collection point is meant to divert from landfills those items that don’t fit the typical parameters of household recycling programs, and its location is meant to recognize that curbside recycling isn’t universal in the south suburbs.
Cook County is providing a grant of nearly $1 million to the college, 15800 State St., using federal American Rescue Plan Act money.
The money will enable South Suburban to hire a sustainability coordinator and will use student interns at the college to staff the center, according to Anthony Tindall, coordinator with Cook County’s Department of Environment and Sustainability.
Much of what is collected will be repurposed or reused, according to Tindall.
“A goal is keeping those hard-to-recycle materials out of landfills,” he said Friday.
Another benefit could be reducing illegal fly-dumping of items such as electronics, with the South Suburban College center being one of few places where e-waste can be regularly recycled.
The county has partnered with PCs for People to refurbish and reuse electronics such as laptops, personal computers and accessories, Tindall said.
Landline phones, fax machines, desktop printers and printer ink and toner cartridges are also on the acceptable list for the recycling center.
Along with the typical household recyclables such as paper, cardboard, glass and metals, the site will accept clothing — even castoff undergarments — and bedding, drapes and shoes. Small kitchen appliances, desks, upholstered chairs, tools and hardware will also being collected.
Wheelchairs, mobility scooters, crutches and walkers will also be accepted, and those items will be cleaned up and offered to homeless shelters and thrift stores, Tindall said.
Plastic foam packaging such as what accompanies furniture and appliances will also be collected, with it being melted down and formed into new uses, he said.
Located on the north side of the college, the center will be open from 7 a.m. until noon on Tuesdays, 2 to 7 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month, according to the county.
Televisions will be accepted only on the Saturdays the center is open, Tindall said.
More information and a list of other accepted materials is at www.cookcountyil.gov/CHaRMCenter.
Questions about the program can also be directed to wasteandrecycling@cookcountyil.gov or by calling 312-603-8200, option 2, according to the county.
In locating the center at South Suburban, the county looked at municipalities in suburban Cook County “that have no or very little recycling happening, and the vast majority are in the south suburbs,” Tindall said.
“The county wanted to find a partner with regional gravitas to help encourage residents in that area to recycle,” he said. “They are a key pillar in those communities that we are trying to target.”
Partnering with the county helps South Suburban further its environmental and sustainability efforts, Lynette Stokes, the college’s president, said in a news release.
“The partnership will allow SSC to act as a community steward and lead by example, promoting materials for reuse and recycle to ultimately reduce waste,” Stokes said. “The permanent recycling drop-off facility is easily accessible to Cook County residents, fosters the local environment’s health and educates the local community on the importance of recycling.”
Tindall said the county’s grant to South Suburban extends to 2026, but that the college has agreed to continue operating the recycling center beyond that.
He said that the college facility will, on occasions, accept hazardous household wastes such as antifreeze, aerosol paints, drain cleaners and fluorescent lamp bulbs. Cook County plans to establish in suburban Cook, by sometime in 2025, a permanent facility to take hazardous household waste, Tindall said.
mnolan@tribpub.com
