The Keep Carroll Beautiful Electronics Recycling, or E-Recycling, is an amnesty collection event held twice a year and open to all residents of Carroll County. The SPRING E-Recycling is hosted in Carrollton and Villa Rica; the FALL event is hosted in Carrollton only. KCB’s amnesty events take place on Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Visit KCB’s Facebook Events Page for more details.
During E-Recycling, participants drop off old, broken, and/or unusable electronics in the designated location, and KCB ships them off to a recycling facility in Atlanta.
Upcoming events
FALL 2024 E-Recycling:
| NEXT EVENT: | Fall E-Recycling |
|---|---|
| DATE: | October 5th, 2024 |
| TIME: | 9 am to 1 pm |
| Location (1) | Southwire Campus 1 Southwire Drive Carrollton, GA 30117 |
| See on Facebook |
SPRING 2025 E-Recycling:
| NEXT EVENT: | Spring E-Recycling |
|---|---|
| DATE: | April 26th, 2025 |
| TIME: | 9 am to 1 pm |
| Location (1) | Southwire Campus 1 Southwire Drive Carrollton, GA 30117 |
| Location (2) | Villa Rica V-PLEX 2200 Carrollton Villa Rica Hwy, Villa Rica, GA 30180 |
| Facebook event coming soon! |
What should you expect during the E-Recycling event?
The E-Recycling events make a huge impact on our community and are very easy to participate in! The event area is typically staged in a large parking lot with cars lining up along drop-off zones that are manned by our friendly volunteers who take the recycling out of the vehicle for you! Most participants are in and out of the event area within 5 minutes.
We kindly ask that you:
- Remove all the cords and cables and pack them in a bag.
- Place your electronics in the trunk or your back seat, away from any valuables or items you want to keep.
- Do not exit the vehicle during the event. The volunteers will pick your items up.
- Answer a short questionnaire and consider donating to Keep Carroll Beautiful!
Why should we recycle electronics?
Through community partnerships and cooperation with Southwire Company, we are able to divert tones of recyclables from Carroll County landfills. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, recycling electronics “conserves our natural resources and avoids air and water pollution, as well as greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by manufacturing virgin materials“.
- Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by more than 3,500 US homes in a year.
- For every million cell phones we recycle, 35 thousand pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered. (Source: EPD)
But recovering valuable metals and saving energy needed to produce new materials is not the only reason we should recycle electronics: computers, phones, TVs, printers, and so on, may contain toxic substances like lead, zinc, nickel, barium, and chromium. When released into the environment, lead can cause severe damage to wildlife and humans, affecting blood, kidneys, and nervous systems.
Electrical Equipment vs Electronics
Electrical Equipment
Electrical devices change current into useful energy such as heat or light. A fan is a simple electrical device that converts electrical energy into kinetic energy that puts the fan in motion. The hair drier turns electricity into heat.
Electronics
Electronic devices manipulate electricity to perform a particular task. An LED TV will use electricity to light up specific sections of the screen, producing pictures. To manipulate the electrical current, ELECTRONICS will need some sort of circuit board and other components that require sophisticated materials.
Accepted recyclables
The E-Recycling event focuses on ELECTRONIC equipment. Most electric equipment and appliances are not accepted. Please see below for a list of accepted items.
ACCEPTED
- Computers: desktops, laptops, Chromebooks, netbooks, all brands*, and monitors.
- Computer accessories and components: keyboards, mice, all cords, speakers, circuit boards, power supplies, hard drives, floppy drives, card readers;
- Network components: servers, mainframes, network hubs, network switches & routers, modems;
- Scanners, Printers, Copiers (home and office grade); also toner & ink cartridges;
- Video and sound equipment: TVs (but not the console TV with wooden boxes), Blu-Ray, DVD, CD Players, VCRs, sound systems, remotes, cables, antennas, fire/chrome sticks, rokus; stereos, radios, dock stations;
- All gaming systems and controllers;
- Phones: cellphones, smartphones, desktop phones, fax machines, pagers,
- Portable devices: tablets, Gameboys, personal DVD-players, MP3 players, walkmen, discmen, sound recorders;
- Batteries: UPS and UPS Batteries, Ni-MH/Ni-CAD batteries, lithium batteries, car batteries, household batteries;
- Cables/Wires – we love cables, wires, and cords!
NOT ACCEPTED
- Very large and old TVs and speakers (no projection/console TVs or speakers with wooden boxes);
- Large home Appliances: no washers & dryers, refrigerators, freezers, ranges, ovens, microwaves, coolers, wine fridges, ice makers;
- Small kitchen appliances and gadgets: no toaster ovens, blenders, mixers, waffle makers, coffee makers and grinders, electric grills, powered knives, air fryers, crock pots, instant pots, pressure cookers, juicers,
- Cleaning devices: no vacuum cleaners, handheld vacuums, robotic vacuums, carpet shampooers, steamers, electric mops;
- Other home appliances: irons and clothes steamers, heaters, electric or gas fireplaces, air conditioners, air purifiers, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, fans,
- Personal grooming: no hair driers, flat & curling irons, hair clippers, electric razors, electric toothbrushes or flossers, hair removal devices;
- Power tools (gas or electric) and power tools batteries;
- No bulbs of any type (Bulbs Recycling Guide here)
- Other:
- no gas grill tanks;
- no liquid-containing devices;
- no radioactive material;
- no tires (Tire Recycling event coming 2021);
- no household trash;
* Our recycling partner, Atlanta Recycling Solutions is a certified data destruction company that ensures your information is safe.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to dropped-off computers, phones, and tablets? Do I need to wipe/destroy the memory drives?
The recycling company we use to pick up the electronics keeps them under lock and disposes of the hard drives in a secure location.
My item is old/broken/missing power cords/ was stored outside n the rain/deteriorated. Can I still bring it for recycling?
Yes! We want your dinosaurs, lemons, ugly ducklings, damaged goods, and so on. Those are most likely to end up in the trash but most of the time can still be recycled!
I have a small item but cannot wait until the scheduled E-Recycling Event. Can I bring it to Keep Carroll Beautiful?
Please call the office at 678-321-4816 to discuss. We generally accept small items like cell phones, smartphones, iPods, iPads, WIFI cards, circuit boards, laptops, small printers and scanners, digital cameras, gameboys, GPS, rechargeable batteries, MP3 players, earbuds, and all other accessories.
Please do not leave ant items in our driveway or on top of bins or boxes. Any recyclables can only be accepted by appointment and when KCB staff is present.
Bulk items
If you would like to schedule a drop-off of bulk electronics from your businesses, please give us a call at 678-321-4816 to discuss your specific needs.