Berrien County residents can drop off household chemicals, batteries, home medical waste, electronics, hard foam or Styrofoam, unwanted bicycles, and get their paper documents shredded TODAY, April 11, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Reduce Reuse Recycle Day event. The Community Recycling Event is taking place at Lake Michigan College, 2755 E. Napier Ave., Benton Harbor. Entrance to the event is off of Yore Avenue.
This Community Recycling Event is for Berrien County residents only. No business waste is allowed. The event is drive through, and participants must stay in their vehicles. Staff will unload items from vehicles.
Accepted household chemicals and hazards include home, garden, garage, and workshop liquids, oils, fuels, solvents, cleaners, and chemicals, as well as batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, and mercury items. Also accepted is home medical waste such as pills, liquids, aerosols, and sharps. Latex paint is not accepted and can be dried out and thrown away with regular trash.
Green Earth Electronics Recycling of St. Joseph will be on-site to collect electronic waste including computers, televisions, printers, large and small appliances, microwaves, and anything else with a cord or that is battery operated. There is a fee of $10 per computer monitor, $20 per television, and $10 per Freon item (i.e. air conditions, refrigerators, dehumidifiers, etc.). Other accepted electronics are free to drop off. Call Green Earth Electronics Recycling for more information, 269-326-1232.
Hard foam and Styrofoam will be collected for recycling, including foam ice chests, clean “to-go” food containers, egg cartons, foam block packaging, and pink and blue Styrofoam. Foam must be clean and dry. Not accepted is soft foam such as packing peanuts, foam bedding or squishy foam.
Bicycles will be accepted by Cycle-Re-Cycle of Benton Harbor. Learn more about Cycle-Re-Cycle services and programs at www.cycle-re-cycle-swm.org.
County residents can also bring personal, paper documents for on-site shredding. Participants must remove 3-ring binders, large binder clips, plastics and metals before bringing documents (staples are ok). United Federal Credit Union is providing volunteers at the event, as well as funding to help cover some costs of bringing this shredding service to Berrien County residents.
For more information, and a detailed list of accepted items, go to the Berrien County website, www.berriencounty.org/564/Berrien-County-Community-Recycling-Event, or call Berrien County Parks Department, 269-983-7111 x8232 or x8133.
