Koppers in Hubbell is Celebrating Earth Day by Taking the Community’s E-Waste

HUBBELL – Happy Earth Day! Every year since 1970, on April 22nd, people all around the world celebrate the planet’s beauty. Earth day was started here in the upper Midwest, by Wisconsin Senator and former Governor Gaylord Nelson. He was devoted to conservation and loved the environment. We stopped by Koppers in Hubbell, to see how their Earth Day recycling event was going, and even drop off some our own e-waste.

“Yeah, absolutely, we’re having a great turn out. It’s been better than I could have hoped for. We’ve collected a lot of CRT TV’s, laptops, flat-screens. We’re getting a lot of good stuff. So the e-waste will be going to a recycling facility in Peoria, Illinois. And the single strain recycling will go to Marquette. It’s important because we make sure we get the right equipment to the right location. We don’t always have the resources we need up here. So being able to take a few truckloads down to the appropriate place keeps the area clean and well maintained.” – Cody Woodbury, Koppers Process Engineer

Earth Day is recognized by 192 countries and millions of people across the globe. Private companies and labor organizations like the United Auto Workers were an important part of the growth of earth day. Dennis Hayes, who worked with Nelson to start earth day, famously said that without the UAW the first earth day would have likely flopped.

“Corporate put out a challenge to all the plants globally, New Zealand, Australia,  Denmark, North America. And basically celebrate Earth Day. And see what each plant can do to help out on Earth Day. And we thought the biggest need in the area was e-waste. I believe the last event was four or five years ago. And we know everybody in our plant was collecting a bunch of these CRT’s, the old tubes, flat-screens, and old computers. So this was a need.” – Steve Jordan, Koppers Engineering Manager

Koppers Earth Day e-waste recycling day was a great way to spend a Friday. Then they packed the materials up and sent them out to be separated, and recycled. For more information about how you can recycle, visit coppercountryrecyclereuse.com.