The Rotary Club of Auburn will host a recycling event on Saturday, Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the parking lot behind City Hall.
The Rotary Club is supported in this effort by three cooperating partners – Redwood Materials, Auburn Presbyterian Church and Auburn Moving and Storage.
Materials will be accepted from two categories, lithium ion (also nickel metal hydride) batteries and electronics (E-Waste). Lithium ion batteries are the rechargeable batteries used to power cell phones, tablets, cordless power tools, electric toothbrushes, etc. Recycling of lithium ion batteries is a “Closed Loop Solution” in that Redwood Materials extracts the lithium from the batteries and uses it to produce batteries for electric vehicles. While all the collected material will go into sealed boxes that will be shipped to Redwood Materials, it is always advisable to wipe your personal data from your phone, tablet or laptop before surrendering it for recycling.
Electronics the club will accept at this event include stereo components, computers, monitors, televisions, desktop printers, small appliances, routers and similar items. Connecting cables and printer ink cartridges will also be accepted. Console or cabinet-mounted televisions, large business printers/scanners and large appliances (refrigerators, mini-fridges, mounted microwaves, ovens, washers, dryers) will not be accepted.
This event is an extension of the commitment by the Rotary Club of Auburn to protect the environment. For the last two years, the club has positioned bins for the collection of film plastic (e.g. plastic bags, bubble wrap, mailing envelopes) at BriarPatch, BelAir and Raley’s markets.
Club volunteers deliver the material to Safeway and Save Mart, which have contracts with Trex Company, Inc., which uses the plastic to make composite decking boards, another “Closed Loop Solution” to recycling.
Thus far, club volunteers have collected more than 3,000 pounds of film plastic that otherwise would have gone to landfill.