The city of Norman will hold an electronic waste drop-off event, one option for Norman residents to properly dispose of materials that can contaminate the environment.
E-waste drop-off
Michele Loudenback, the city of Norman’s environmental and sustainability manager, helps organize the city’s e-waste drop-off event, which takes place twice per year.
According to the World Health Organization, 62 million tons of electronic devices were improperly disposed of in 2022. This improper disposal can lead to contamination of “air, soil, dust, and water at recycling sites and in neighboring communities,” according to the organization’s website.
Loudenback said the event is a way of preventing pollution from materials found in e-waste.
“We're removing those materials,” Loudenback said. “They're not being dumped in our creeks or on our properties where we're picking up trash, so it doesn't get carried on, so it's not marring the beauty of our community.”
The city’s next e-waste drop-off is Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at Ruby Grant Park.
Loudenback said the event is free because she wants to keep e-waste like laptops, cell phones and items with cords out of places like creeks so they can be recycled.
While the city's free event happens twice a year, Loudenback said she is working on organizing a year-round option for e-waste.
Year-round options
Tim Kortemeier is the vice president of purchasing at Meridian Asset Recovery & Recycling Solutions, an Oklahoma City-based company that offers year-round e-waste disposal and recycling options.
“We'll take all types of IT-related recycling,” Kortemeier said. “We even pay for equipment if the equipment's good and working.”
Customers can call the business for e-waste pickup or go to one of its three Norman drop-off locations.
According to the business’ website, each drop-off location has specific guidelines, which can be found online. Drop-off locations include Best Buy, Verizon and Office Depot.
Improper handling of unwanted electronics can pose a threat to data security.
According to the site, data traced from discarded devices can include sensitive information like banking logins and email passwords.
“Not all devices encrypt data by default,” the website reads. “Some rely on users to manually overwrite files, which may sound simple but often fails in practice.”
This sensitivity is why Loudenback said having professionals who follow data elimination protocols can lower the chances of identity theft.
This story was edited by Keaton Shaffer and Audrey McClour. Gretchen Schultz copy edited this story.
