AMDSB Student Senate Hosts E-Waste Drop Off Initiative to Celebrate Earth Week

by Bob Montgomery

Student Senators from the Avon Maitland District School Board are raising awareness about e-waste and the need to properly recycle electronic devices.

Nathan Bean is a grade twelve student at the Stratford District Secondary School and he's the Vice President of the Avon Maitland Student Senate. He says every year they try to come up with projects that will make a difference at the Board level. The idea for this particular project came to them when they realized it can be challenging for most people to get rid of their e-waste and they can't just throw them in the recycling bin because they're a fire hazard. “People have to go out of their way to recycle their old laptop, old charging cables that break, anything like that, especially as technology seems to break more these days. So we thought, lets make a week long recycling event from April 15th to the 19th.”

Bean says four high schools are participating, Listowel District Secondary School, Stratford District Secondary School, Central Huron District Secondary School in Clinton and South Huron District High School in Exeter, and any students or staff can drop their e-waste in containers at those schools throughout Earth Week from April 15th to the 19th. Anyone from the general public is welcome to drop off materials at any one of those schools on Friday April 19th between nine in the morning and three in the afternoon. Bean says it's not only good for the environment, it gives people a way to get their e-waste out of their house.

Collections bins will be set up inside the schools for students and staff and large collection bins will be place outside of the entrance to the schools for the general public on Friday April 19th. Bean says Greentec is the company they've partnered with, and they're covering 100 percent of the cost to properly recycle the e-waste, so they really appreciate that.