The Arizona Tribune
Lifestyle

Opportunity to Recycle in Tucson

Have you got your new appliances at Christmas? And now you are worried about the space your old ones are taking? This problem is quite common in the families of the United States. We buy a lot of new things in a year producing the same amount of wastes as well. But, when it comes to e-waste, you have an option to recycle it rather than leaving it to harm the environment. Yes, an E-Waste collection event will be organized on January 12 from 8 to 11 a.m. in the parking lot of Texas Roadhouse, 968 W. Irvington Road.

The event will be organized by Tucson Clean & Beautiful, a non-profit dedicated to preserving and improving the environment, conserving natural resources and enhancing the quality of life in Tucson and eastern Pima County. It not only deals with E-Waste but also with recycling and buffelgrass removal to tree planting, water harvesting, etc.

The E-waste event will be organized in Tucson by the organization in partnership with Tucson Environmental Services, Texas Roadhouse and RISE Equipment Recycling Center, a non-profit subsidiary of COPE Community Services.

RISE is an organization that receives donated office equipment and refurbish them to donate to low-income families and other non-profit organizations. The organization is a Microsoft certified refurbisher. It also provides training and skill development to those who are willing to learn about refurbishing.

It also allows families to earn a refurbished computer by volunteering with the organization.

Ruben Vejar, general manager of RISE said that due to the income gap between the families, a lot of people came to them to get computers for their children. Their children needed it for school work. A computer has become inevitable for studies nowadays.

RISE as an organization is not known to many. It has already given thousands of computers, and in the last year only it has provided 800 computers to the families in need. Rise also has provided refurbished computers to the YWCA of Southern Arizona, the Tucson Wildlife Center and other local non-profits, churches and faith-based organizations.

As per the managing director of the organization, they needed more business donations and used computers so that they can provide those to the people in need. Business houses in general use one computer for 4 to 5 years, and then the computer is wasted. Their platform can be used to donate the computer to someone after cleaning the hard drive. This way the organization can become a link between the haves and have-nots.

As per a report, 70 percent of landfills come from electronic wastes, and in our country, only 12-16 percent of electronics are refurbished. RISE has the expertise in repairing the equipment and refurbishing the used ones the way it can be used by any other family, hence not leading to the landfills. So, the donation of used computers not only has an ethical angle but also it has an environmental dimension.

The refurbished stores of RISE include computers, laptops, monitors, printers and office equipment, DVD players, flat-screen televisions and stereo equipment. It also has small kitchen appliances like microwaves, blenders and vacuum cleaners.

FreeCycle Swap-

There is another platform in Tucson available for recycling and refurbishing. It is on Freecycle Post-Holiday Swap and Shred from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at Woods Memorial Library, 3455 N. First Ave.

The specialty here is that it deals with not only electronics but also clothing, toys and games, kitchen and household items, books, holiday items, small electronics and much more.

It has been ten years that the event is happening annually. And the crowd has been on the growing bigger each year.

It is indeed a noble step toward a sustainable life. Americans have been living in a throw-away culture, where the frequency of changing gadgets is highest across the globe. These events can change in the behavior of most of the Americans and help the ones in need as well.

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