Pittsburgh Mills to be 1st site of 6 hard-to-recycle collections

A hard-to-recycle event next month at the Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer will kick off a series of six such events around the region this summer and fall.

The events, part of the Pennsylvania Resources Council’s Hard-to-Recycle Collection Campaign, allow residents to get rid of items not typically collected by trash haulers and Pittsburgh’s environment services, such as cellphones, tires, TVs, computer parts and more. Those wishing to drop off such items are asked to register in advance to streamline the process, organizers said. That and other measures are meant to reduce person-to-person interactions and guard against the spread of covid-19.

Registration is open for the May 22 event at Pittsburgh Mills.

“To streamline the process at our events, we’re asking participants to wear face coverings and stay in their vehicles while the contractor unloads the materials,” said PRC interim managing director Sarah Alessio Shea.

The six events planned for the region are:

• Saturday, May 22 — Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.;

• July 10 — Quaker Valley High School in Leetsdale;

• July 31 — La Roche University in McCandless;

• Aug. 21 — Next Tier Connect at Pittsburgh East in Monroeville;

• Aug. 28 — Bethel Park High School in Bethel Park; and

• Oct. 2 — Settlers Cabin Park near Robinson, North Fayette and Collier.

Residents who register in advance can bring e-waste, cellphones, alkaline batteries, Freon-containing appliances, tires and more to the collection events.

Over the past 16 years, Hard-to-Recycle events have collected 2 million pounds of electronics, more than 12,000 tires, 3,700 appliances and more.

Some items are recycled for free while others are fee-based.

Materials collected at no cost: PCs (towers), laptops, mice and keyboards; home phones and cellphones; tablets, PDAs and uninterruptible power supplies; servers, routers and modems; web and digital cameras; DVD players and VCRs; paper shredders; clock radios; stereos; microwaves; copiers, fax machines and scanners; electronic cables; video game consoles; expanded Polystyrene packaging material; compact fluorescent light bulbs; glass bottles, jugs and jars (all colors, labels and lids can remain on).

Materials collected for a fee: computer monitors, $20; televisions, $30; console or rear projection TVs, $40; printers, $5; alkaline batteries, $1.50 per pound; small Freon-­containing appliances, $10 each; CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes and floppy disks, $1 per pound; tires, $3.50 without rims and $10 with rims; hard-drive data destruction verification, $11.50 for the first one and $3 for each additional drive; and fluorescent tubes, $2 to $3.50.

Hard-to-Recycle accepts cash, check, credit or debit. Organizers suggest that participants consider bringing cash as people move more quickly through the cash-only lane.

A contractor will be on site to unload materials.

Participants must register in advance at prc.org/HTRregistration or by calling 412-488-7490, ext. 3. Registration for each event opens one month in advance.

For more information, go to the Pennsylvania Resources Council website.