On Friday, October 29, University Facilities and Services held its 14th annual E-Cycle Day from 6:30am to 1:00pm. Throughout the day, a total of 512 cars lined up in the Zone 3 South parking lot where University staff, faculty, and students were able to drop off their old and unwanted electronics to be safely recycled. The electronics were recycled by Sunnking, an electronics recycling company in Central and Western New York.
This year, a record breaking 37,558 pounds (nearly 19 tons) of electronics were collected at the event; the highest amount ever collected at an E-Cycle Day event and 9,606 pounds more than last year. A total of 59 pallets were filled with an assortment of electronics, including and not limited to televisions, laptops, cellphones, microwaves, printers, keyboards and stereos. This year’s successful collection is most likely due to people spending more time at home during the pandemic and doing more cleanouts.
This event would not have been possible without the volunteers from the Delta Upsilon
(DU) fraternity, who have partnered with the University on E-Cycle Day for eleven years in a row. Many of the DU brothers also volunteered during previous years and expressed how fulfilling the experience is for them. Abhinav Singh ‘23 said the event is “part of DU’s culture and history”. As a self-described “tech-head”, Singv articulated feelings of nostalgia from his childhood to see old
electronics, that you don’t see often anymore, brought into the event. Sustainability Coordinator Amy Kadrie, who leads the event each year, would like to extend a special thanks to DU event coordinator Sam Hirth ’23 and all the brothers who helped out, Ulysses Holmes and Joseph Reese Morrow of Medical Center Facilities Operations, Mike Chudyk of Horticulture and Grounds, as well as Cindy Jessop and the crew from Sunnking.
Many customers dropping off their electronics voiced their excitement to be finally getting rid of their unused items. Throughout the course of the event, every half hour there were at least 60 cars coming through the parking lot, with the busiest intervals getting around 95 cars. Volunteers worked tirelessly to unload electronics from vehicles and sort them onto pallets, which were then loaded into Sunnking’s truck to return to their facility for recycling.
Residents of Monroe County who missed this year’s E-Cycle Day can start collecting electronics for E-Cycle Day 2022 or may utilize Ecopark, a recycling collection facility open year long. Employees can also take advantage of University IT’s Equipment Recovery Program to securely recycle University-owned consumer electronics or personal electronics free of charge. Pictures from the event can be found on the UR Sustainable Facebook page here.
Article and Photos by Hanyia Ahmed, Class of 2022