INDIANAPOLIS — Since being deemed the most wasteful city in the country in September, it appears Indianapolis is working on getting rid of that title.
Last weekend more than 600 households dropped-off 59,995 pounds of electronics for recycling.
The Indianapolis Office of Sustainability made a city-wide call out for residents to drop off such material at the end of December. The city partnered with local nonprofit RecycleForce to gather residents' old electronics post-holiday, on Jan. 23.
RecycleForce is a social enterprise that reduces crime and recidivism through re-entry employment and job training opportunities while improving the environment through electronics recycling. With the electronics collected from the event, the workers separate metals from all the mixed-in plastic.
With the mixed plastic, RecycleForce sorts through it and then turns it over to Brightmark, a plastics renewal facility in Indiana. Brightmark takes the plastics and turns them into fuel and wax. This process reduces emissions by 14%, according to RecycleForce.
The city recently added two new recycling drop-offs — one on the northwest side and another at Washington Square Mall. Indy also now has a program call ToxDrop in which households can get drop-off hazardous wastes.
ToxDrop occurs three Saturdays a month at different locations in Marion County. Those who were unable to attend this event are encouraged to recycle unwanted electronics at no cost through this program.
