By CRAIG FREILICH

St. Lawrence NYSARC has started an electronics recycling business, to help consumers safely dispose of unwanted items and provide jobs for disabled people.

“We’re going to collect electronic waste in St. Lawrence County and neighboring counties,” said Tracy Tuttle, business development sales representative with SLNYSARC.

“It will be good for our business and good for the community,” she said

They are beginning a CyclePoint program, where people can go to a nearby CyclePoint electronic waste event to drop off all manner of electronic castoffs that regular landfills won’t take anymore.

The first of those events is set for July 10 at the Harte Haven Plaza between State Rt. 37 and E. Hatfield St. in Massena, where from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., county residents can drop off old electronics of all sorts and SLNYARC workers will collect the items, sort them, and prepare pallets for shipment.

They will take computers including laptops and tablets, game consoles and docking stations, printers, scanners, routers, AC power adapters, power cords, DVD players, iPods and other MP3 players, radios, stereos, tape players, VCRs, cameras, cell phones, small household appliances, power tools, copiers, fax machines, computer mice and keyboards, and flat panel televisions and computer monitors. They will also take the big old picture tube TVs and monitors, but there will be a $5 fee for each of those. But they won’t take those if the glass is broken.

“Our goal is to provide a safe, effective means for the disposal of electronic waste while providing sustainable jobs for people with significant disabilities,” Tuttle said in an electronic memo announcing the program to businesses and institutions.

Among the services of the program are shredding of hard drives to destroy private data, free pickup for organizations that might have bulk quantities to dispose of, and a drop-off location for households at SLNYSARC’s bottle redemption center at 50 Trade Drive in Massena.

CyclePoint is a national program started by Source America, “one of our federal partners, who approached different agencies,” Tuttle said. “We thought it would be a good venture, since there are now very few collectors for the North Country, and it would provide employment opportunities for people with significant disabilities,” a major goal of NYSARC units.

Right now the SLNYSARC CyclePoint program is rated at Tier 1, “just collecting, sorting, and palletizing,” Tuttle said, to prepare shipments that will be picked up by a similar program in Oswego, headed for disposal.

“Oswego is where the nearest Tier 2 program is. They will be picking up our collection. They are a disassembler,” which gives them the Tier 2 designation, Tuttle said. “That’s our goal, to be a disassembler,” and to earn the Tier 2 designation. Certification would be through the R2/RIOS electronics recyclers program. “We have to prove ourselves.”

Another goal is to have two of the countywide collection events, like the one in Massena July 10, every year. They are working now to set the second event this year.

Tuttle said she hopes the CyclePoint program will provide jobs for 10 and maybe as many as 20 NYSARC workers.

Anyone with questions about how to participate may call Tuttle