DICKSON CITY — Overwhelming turnout at a free electronics recycling event Saturday at the Viewmont Mall for Lackawanna County residents drew such long lines and traffic jams that the event had to be shut down early, state Sen. John Blake said.
Blake and electronics manufacturer Hewlett-Packard and the Lackawanna County Environmental Office sponsored the e-waste recycling event that was supposed to run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
But so many people swamped the event — earlybirds started lining up around 7:30 a.m., if not earlier — that police and mall security cut off entry not too long after it began, said Blake, who was there for a time helping unload recyclables.
Concerns arose about people walking across the parking lots with their electronic items or darting out of line as their frustrations arose over long waiting times, he said.
“It became a public safety concern,” Blake said.
Blake expressed regret to anyone who was turned away and said the situation points to the need for the state to upgrade state law regarding electronics recycling.
“This is not the way to manage this stuff,” Blake said of electronics, which may contain toxic materials. “All it does is tell us we have a problem with electronics recycling and need to upgrade the statute. There should be permanent facilities that are adequately staffed and funded” to accept electronics for recycling at all times.
One way to accomplish that may be to levy a fee at the point of sale on an electronic device to fund recycling on the back end, Blake said.
The free event took place at the Viewmont Mall, in the parking lot behind Dick’s Sporting Goods.
The following items were collected: desktop computers, laptop computers, e-readers, computer monitors, televisions, printers and scanners.
In a newsletter post Friday promoting the recycling event, Blake asked for patience from those who would attend.
“We are anticipating a very large turnout at this event. The recycler and our volunteers will do their best to move the line along as smoothly and quickly as possible,” Blake said in his newsletter.
Traffic clogged along all of the access roads to the mall. Vehicles on the Interstate 81 north exit ramp backed up onto the highway. Traffic jammed both directions of Business Route 6 and along Viewmont Drive from Main Avenue. One motorist’s trip from Olyphant to the mall took 90 minutes. Others spoke of waiting in line for three hours.
When entry to the event was cut off, some people pulled up in their vehicles anyway, parked in the lot and carried their items over to the piles of recyclables and left them there, to avoid having to haul them home.
As the events unfolded and lines and traffic jams ensued, many people posted comments on social media. Some said the logistics of the event were not well thought out and it instead should have been held at a stadium, where there would have been more room and less traffic overall.
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