Volunteers load boxes of household items into truck during Recyclepalooza 2022. (Nick Ulanowski/H-F Chronicle)
Local News

Community members donated electronics, clothes, household items at Recyclepalooza

A steady stream of cars pulled in and out of the Parker Junior High parking lot from 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday, Oct. 7. They were dropping off electronics and other household items that couldn’t be recycled curbside. 

It was the annual Recyclepalooza event organized by the Flossmoor Green Commission. 

Participants were greeted with a sign asking them to stay in their vehicles while volunteers took care of them.

  • Armando Pantajo, president of American Greentek in South Chicago Heights, holds up one of the donated televisions. (Nick Ulanowski/H-F Chronicle)
    Armando Pantajo, president of American Greentek in South Chicago Heights, holds up one of the donated televisions. (Nick Ulanowski/H-F Chronicle)

Although some volunteers were adults, most were students from Homewood-Flossmoor High School and Parker Junior High. The student volunteers received National Honors Society or National Junior Honors Society hours.

“I woke up and had my coffee. I’m here with my friends,” said Madison Clark, an H-F student and member of the Key Club and NHS. “This has been really fun seeing all the stuff that people have – all the old stuff, the new stuff, the broken stuff.”

Recyclepalooza had a loading truck for shoes, other clothing, housewares and sporting goods. Former Flossmoor Green Commission member and Recyclepalooza volunteer Brian Goesel was helping load this truck. He said the clothing from Recyclepalooza is donated to Jones Memorial Community Center, an after-school program in Chicago Heights.

Trophies were placed in boxes in another area of the parking lot. Bicycles were sent away to be refurbished.

“The only thing we don’t take are, like, paper and plastic bags,” said Eric Turnquest, the chair of the Flossmoor Green Commission.

Wires, scrap metals, headphones, printer ink and other electronics also were donated at Recyclepalooza. While dropping off anything else was free, there was a $20 charge to donate a TV. This is because TV recycling is subject to EPA regulations, and this task was outsourced to recycling industry specialists from American Greentek in South Chicago Heights.

“We sell the plastic to asphalt companies. So, the asphalt can glue together. We sell the wire to get the copper out. We sell the boards to fix other components,” said Armando Pantajo, the president of American Greentek, explaining what’s happening to the donated TVs. “That’s our goal – find how they can reduce and re-use this again.”

To his delight, when sorting through the electronics other than the TVs, Malcom Rush, 14, an eighth grader at Parker and NJHS member, found a fully operational X-Box 360 video game system. He was able to take it home.

“It’s perfectly fine for a student to bring whatever they see home – just so long as it’s being reused and not in the dump,” said Elizabeth Wallenius who is with the Green Team at Parker.

H-F students Anna Arrivo and Celeste Carillo said they’re working on a proposal for H-F District 233 to reduce its waste. The students said they’re hoping this volunteering work can help them figure out how to better craft their proposal.

“We’re working on a project for Mr. Rose’s Design Thinking class about making H-F more eco-friendly,” Carillo said.

“It’s all going in the garbage. It’s not being recycled,” Arrivo said of the lunchroom waste at H-F.

Lalinda De La Fuente traveled to Recyclepalooza from Highland, Indiana. She said she found out about Recyclepalooza from the Homewood Science Center’s Facebook post about it. 

“I had a huge bin of electronics sitting in my garage and thought it was a great opportunity to do some seasonal cleaning,” De La Fuente said.

The quantities of recycled items at Recyclepalooza are not currently available.

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