No electronics accepted, but hazardous waste collection continuing in Naperville
The city of Naperville's environmental collection campus still can't accept electronics for recycling. Household waste drop-offs, however, are OK.
Electronic collection was suspended indefinitely Sept. 21 because the city had taken in too many old computers, TVs and other devices for its vendor to handle.
Spokeswoman Linda LaCloche said there aren't plans to reopen electronics drop-off in the immediate future at the city's new collection center at 156 Fort Hill Drive, which opened last year. The city instead will look to host one-time events.
But the new facility also was designed to accept household hazardous waste, and it has money in line to continue collecting things like fertilizer, oil, cleaning solutions, antifreeze, pharmaceutical drugs and batteries.
The new household hazardous waste facility will receive a $155,000 boost to its $246,575 operating budget from other government agencies this year, including $100,000 from DuPage County in an agreement approved Tuesday night. The rest of the money comes from Will County, Aurora and Kane County.
The drop-off facility accepts hazardous materials from anyone who visits - even if they're not residents of the jurisdictions that pay to support the operation. Its hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The center's opening allowed the household hazardous waste collection operation that has been underway in Naperville since 1992 as one of four such sites in the state to move from fire station No. 4, where long lines often formed during collection hours.
Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis said it's easier to sum up what the center can't collect than to list everything it can. It doesn't accept tires, latex paint or, for the time being, electronics.
When the drop-off site opened, it quickly became a popular place for West suburban residents to dispose of old electronics - 629,000 pounds of them in roughly seven months. When vendor New Life Electronics Recycling became overwhelmed with materials, the city suspended the program.
LaCloche said the cost of recycling old TVs remains high and the city is waiting for a possible state-level solution to decrease the cost before beginning to accept electronics again.