Township clean-ups provide the opportunity for residents to dispose of electronics and heavy metals (white goods) responsibly. Because of a new state law mandate, the TCRCF, as a registered IEPA e-cycler, provides free electronics recycling to residents for Covered Electronic Devices (CEDs) such as TVs, CPUs, printers and monitors; and Eligible Electronic Devices (EEDs) like keyboards, mice, speakers, fax machines, zip and jazz drives.  Once the electronics are collected at a township clean-up, they are trucked by the TCRCF to its facility and the landfill materials are taken to the closest site.  At the facility, the e-waste is sorted and prepared for trucking to a recycling facility.  All the non-CRT electronics go to Plainfield, Illinois, for recycling and all cathode ray tubes (CRTs) such as TVs and monitors go to Jamesville, Wisconsin, where they are recycled or disposed of appropriately.

In a time when funding for recycling programs has become scarcer, it is becoming more apparent that the public is ready and willing to recycle and make sure that materials that need to go to the landfill arrive there - and not in rural ditches.  Since September of 2005, the TCRCF has processed 1,015,474 pounds of electronics under voluntary conditions. By January 2012, under a new electronics law PA 095-0959, all TVs, CPUs, printers and monitors will be banned from the landfills in Illinois. Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota already have bans in place.  This will make facilities such as the TCRCF even more essential to ensure that toxic electronics are disposed of properly. The TCRCF has secured electronic recycling weights-credits for all of its electronics collected for the next two years under the new law, guaranteeing a recycling home for all of the electronics collected.

The Tri-County Regional Collection Facility serves residents from the City of Galesburg, the City of Rushville, and Fulton, Hancock, Henderson, McDonough and Warren counties.  Henry and Knox counties recently elected to no longer participate as collection sites.

The Reuse-a-Shoe Program has become a year-long shoe collection.  No longer is spring cleaning the only time you can recycle your used athletic shoes. Starting now, two facilities will be open to accept your used athletic shoes on a year-round basis. The Tri-County Regional Collection Facility, 510 N. Pearl Street in Macomb, can accept shoes Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm and the first Saturday of the month from 8:00 am to noon; and Maple City Recycling Center, 614 South 3^rd Street, Monmouth, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.

The collection only accepts old, used athletic and walking shoes with no metal parts. No shoes with metal parts, such as zippers, eyelets, studs, or motion lights, and no sandals, boots or dress shoes will be accepted.  Once a specific quantity of shoes is collected, they are sent to the Nike Corporation who will grind the shoes into "Nike Grind," a material that can be used to make new sports surfaces for soccer and football fields, basketball and tennis courts, and tracks and playground surfaces.

For more information, call Tri-County Resource & Waste Management Council Solid Waste Coordinator Chad Braatz at 309-331-4782 or the Maple City Recycling Center at 309-734-6939.