Tough Stuff Recycling Fest
April 20 to 25, 2009
A BIG THANK YOU is in order to the Michiana Community for their contributions to the Tough Stuff Recycling Fest.
We collected 330 gallons of shoes, 900 gallons of packing peanuts, 900 gallons of expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam), 900 gallons of plastic bags and 800 egg cartons were brought to campus for recycling. Gently used shoes were donated to GoodWill in Michiana and the Shoes-4-Africa program. Shoes in poor shape were sent to Nike Grind where the soles will be ground up and used to make athletic courts. Plastic bags were given to WalMart for recycling, Egg cartons were given to local egg farmers, Packing peanuts and material was given to UPS stores, and the Styrofoam was given to Tegrant Corporation in Michigan City (to be remolded into new styrofoam products). However, this was all dwarfed by the electronic waste collection.
We also collected 70,000 lbs (35 tons) of electronics that were sent to Apple Computers for recycling, and 16 pallets of computers were collected by Free Geek Michiana (www.freegeekmichiana.org).
Our e-waste collection was part of a larger event in which over 700,000 lbs (350 tons) were collected on four IU campuses (Bloomington, Indianapolis, Northwest, and South Bend). None of the material collected was processed for resale, and 100 percent is being recycled in the United States by Apple.
26 TONS of e-waste in 4 hours! Here is what it looks like when ready for loading onto Semi-trailer trucks.
