Coos County residents can catch the electronics recycling bug along with the rest of the state when the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s statewide  E-Cycling program kicks off Jan 1.

People here will have three sites where they can drop off old computers, monitors and television sets free of charge.

Those include the Beaver Hill Disposal site south of Coos Bay, and Oregon Satellite and West Coast Recycling and Disposal in Coos Bay. Kathy Kiwala, DEQ’s E-Waste project leader, said at least one collection event will take place in the county this year as well.

DEQ coordinated the program with electronics manufacturers, garbage collectors and recycling agencies as part of Oregon’s Electronics Recycling Law, passed by the state legislature in June 2007.

Kicking off the free recycling program is a phase-in for the full implementation of the law. Starting Jan. 1, 2010, people will be required to recycle or donate all computers, monitors and televisions. The state will ban tossing them in the garbage.

Kiwala said Oregonians, much like the rest of the nation, are discarding or storing rather than recycling these electronics. She said a small percentage of computers are recycled, but most unneeded televisions end up in a landfill.

This program gives people the opportunity to start recycling their unwanted or broken electronics and the state a full year to work out the bugs in the network before the new disposal law goes into effect. Leaving electronics in a landfill allows hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium and mercury to seep into the environment. They also contain material that can be recycled and reused.

“This will be a great opportunity for Oregonians,” Kiwala said.

Collectors and recyclers, either in state or out-of-state, will follow a set of guidelines for handling and processing the electronics. The standards are designed to protect workers and the environment throughout the recycling process.

West Coast Recycling and Disposal District Manager Pete Smart said the disposal site has been taking electronics for years and paying a recycling company out of Medford to haul them away. Smart said most people throw old electronics away instead of opting to pay the additional cost to recycle their unwanted items.

West Coast’s system of handling recyclable electronics will remain much the same, except it will be free to the public and the recycling company will pay West Coast a fee to process items.

Collection sites have been set up in every city in the state with a population of 10,000 or more and at least one collection service will be in every county.

Other electronics, such as cell phones, DVD players, VCRs, mice, keyboards, printers, scanners, fax machines, and video game consoles are not part of the program. Customers still may be able to recycle those items at program sites, but they may be charged.