Aurora resident Pat Popp had some electronic devices she no longer needed and was happy to have a place to recycle them Saturday right in the city.
“I have a computer monitor and some other electronics,” Popp said at the Kane County recycling program’s monthly pop-up recycling event Saturday morning in the parking lot of Aurora Ace Hardware at 994 N. Lake St. “I’m glad to have something that’s nearby.”
The three-hour event allowed area residents to drop off items including electronics, clothing and textiles, books and other paper items for recycling.
Televisions and monitors were also accepted for a set fee.
Clair Ryan, recycling coordinator for Kane County, said the pop-up program began back in the fall of 2022 after some collection sites in the area were reconfigured.
“When I came on three years ago, we had a recycling center in Aurora but it didn’t take off and it wasn’t in the right location, and people didn’t feel comfortable going there because it was kind of in this dilapidated building,” Ryan said. “We decided to close that and instead start what’s become roughly a monthly pop-up event on Saturday. It’s convenient for folks in Aurora but also hopefully for people in Batavia, Geneva and North Aurora who would use the Fabyan Parkway site but aren’t available to go on weekdays because of work.”
Ryan said it “was important to maintain a presence in Aurora and that service,” adding that she has received calls from people telling her they are glad there is still a drop-off recycling option in the city.
She noted that while collections can be spotty at times, things can pick up after the holidays.
“We do see a lot of people recycling things after Christmas,” she said. “There are lights that people found weren’t working when they went to put them up and you’ll see things like TV sets for those who got deals on a new one for the holidays due to the aggressive sales. Across all the sites, we do see a pretty big bump this time of year in electronics including the holiday lights from November through December. We see it after the holidays too as people are looking ahead and maybe thinking of doing something different next Christmas.”
Ryan said after electronics, textiles and corrugated cardboard are the other items people tend to recycle this time of year, including the cartons the electronics were shipped in.
“We don’t love to take a ton of cardboard at the pop-ups. We do take it at Fabyan and West Dundee five days a week,” she said. “For those who got their Christmas shopping in corrugated boxes, sometimes there are more boxes than can fit in a recycling cart and some multi-family sites don’t have proper access to recycling.”
Kane County and its partner, eWorks Electronics Services, accept an expanded menu of electronics at the county’s recycling centers and events to reduce the amount of reusable material going to landfills, according to the Kane County recycling webpage. Representatives from eWorks Electronics were on hand to collect items at the event on Saturday.
Felipe Salto, who said he oversees all of the collection sites for eWorks Electronics Services, was busy Saturday filling large cardboard boxes with electronics from cars that began to form a line near the collection truck at the event.
“I oversee all of the sites, and we see a lot of TVs and other things after Christmas,” Salto explained as he loaded an item in a box.
Bob Hively of Aurora said he brought an amplifier and a telephone to be recycled Saturday.
“I live in southwest Aurora and so this is a little bit away for me, but it’s still convenient,” Hively said. “I’m retired so I can go whenever the collection day comes around.”
Don White from Montgomery said he brought some papers and magazines and has been coming regularly to the pop-up event.
“I pretty much bring the same thing every time,” White explained as he handed items over to Saltos. “I like that I can come on a Saturday and leave stuff here.”
Gary Patterson from Plainfield said he brought some clothes as well as some electronics that included “a CD player and cassette player.”
“I came once last year and this is closer than anything down in Plainfield,” he said. “This is better than throwing stuff in a landfill.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
