iPoint’s Earth Day event, Flowers for Towers, was
a hit! Over the three day event, we saw over 185 people who dropped off more than 7,000 pounds of electronic waste to be recycled. We accepted everything from computer towers, laptops, keyboards, servers, copiers, printers and everything in between. This amount of e-waste took three truck loads that were filled to haul off to be recycled.
The amount that was recycled this year, far exceeded what was recycled last year. Last year, we were limited in what we could accept to recycle, but received 316 towers and laptops over the course of the four day event.
Flowers for Towers is an event where individuals and businesses bring their e-waste to us, and we recycle it for you free of charge. iPoint partnered with I.T. Refresh, a local e-waste recycler, to recycle the unwanted or unused computer equipment. I.T. Refresh securely wiped all of the old data before it was recycled. In return for the old equipment, Fort Collins Nursery donated a $5 gift certificate to each participant.
Pete Fardal, director of sales marketing at iPoint, said the reason for this recycling event is to help local businesses keep their information-technology equipment out of landfills, since those materials would otherwise be very difficult to break down. “Most components of PCs are toxic,” said Fardal. In fact, about 20-50 million metric tons of e-waste is thrown into landfills worldwide each year, contributing to 70% of toxic waste in landfills. In addition to the cost to our landfills, it takes about 539 pounds of fossil fuels, 48 chemicals and 1.5 tons of water to create just one computer.
If you missed our event, it’s not too late to recycle your e-waste! Please take your old computer equipment directly to IT Refresh to be recycled. Click here to find out where you can take your items, and the cost for recycling.
A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this event by bringing us their e-waste. And, a big thank you to our partners IT Refresh and Fort Collins Nursery. We appreciated all of the community support.