Smart is the chairwoman of the Phoebe Hearst Elementary School’s “E-Cycle,” a chance for people to recycle unwanted electronic equipment. The event is from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the school located at 3950 37th St. NW.
Where’d the idea of the “E-Cycle” come from?
When I first started the school’s Green Team and we were trying to raise money by recycling small electronics — we didn’t have much luck with making money that way, but we found that lots of people wanted to give us their old/obsolete electronics that weren’t accepted by our fundraiser. There was a clear need for electronic recycling in our community. When electronics are thrown away, they end up in landfills and leach toxic waste — mercury and cadmium, for instance — into our soil and water.
What does the school get out of it? We do this mainly as a community awareness event and use it as a chance to show the community our commitment to the environment. Hopefully, the cost of the event will be covered by donations and our bake sale. What’s the “freecycle” swap? Essentially, we let people drop off working equipment that they no longer need, which we then put on display during the event for other people who may want to take these items home. This is a chance for folks to give those working electronics another life. … Reusing is even better than e-cycling. I see that you got more than 5.5 tons of electronics last year. How big is 5.5 tons of electronics? I have no idea, but I do know that we had three pickup trucks plus a minivan last year making constant trips to Fort Totten during the three-hour event. This year, we’ve rented two U-Hauls so that we are ready for whatever gets dropped off!
— Scott McCabe
