West Springfield Boy Scouts help community recycle electronics Leave a comment

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP)-Recycling electronics isn’t as easy as it used to be.

To help make that task easier for people in western Massachusetts, Boy scout Troop 570 hosted a fundraiser at Mittineague Congregational Church to provide a means to do just, while at the same time benefiting the environment.

“The town is no longer make it any easier to dispose of electronics and we just wanted an environmentally correct and easy way for people to dispose of them,” Reid McManis, the Committee Chairman for Boy Scout Troop 570 said.

Cars lined up quickly, as local residents and businesses with old, unwanted electronics, all contributed to the cause.

“We recycle components we take off from job sites, but to do it and benefit the troop, even more valuable, so a double bonus for us,” Jay Lacasse owner of Circle Nine Technologies said.

Troop 570 had New England Devices in West Springfield take the lead with this project.

“We’re taking in any old electronics and recycling it we have partners that work with this stuff and break it down, and scrap it so nothing really goes into landfills,” Joe Rogers, owner of New England Device Solutions said.

People donated everything from computers to TVs. Besides just freeing up space at homes, this also will free up space at landfills that continue to get busier by the day. But cutting back on landfill waste is just part of it. Goods can be made from recycled materials, using less energy, and reducing pollution.

“They can reuse a lot of these components and recycle them, and they recycle all the wires we take off job sites, for the same reason to take them out of the landfill and reuse it,” Lacasse said.

Donations were encouraged for each electronic, with the money benefitting the Boy Scouts, that live by the rule, “leave it better than you found it.”