Sustainability Tips | Illinois Sustainable Technology Center

November 15 is America Recycles Day

Happy America Recycles Day! Celebrated annually on November 15 since 1997, America Recycles Day is a program of Keep America Beautiful, Inc. and is about educating the public about how and what to recycle, while encouraging people to do so as part of their daily routine. Those of us who were alive in the 1970s […]

Champaign County Residential Electronics Collection, Saturday, October 13

Champaign County (IL) will offer a residential electronics collection event from 8 a.m to noon on Saturday, October 13, 2012. The drop off location is the News-Gazette Distribution Center at 3202 Apollo Drive in Champaign, IL. Click here to view a map of the location, a list of acceptable electronic items being collected, and information […]

2012 Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Awards

A pair of environmental recognition programs have joined together to honor Illinois organizations that have accomplished significant achievements in protecting the environment and helping to sustain the future. Winners of the Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Awards and the Illinois Campus Sustainability Compact Awards Program were presented during a luncheon in Oak Brook, IL.

Landfill Harmonic: An Inspirational Story

In Cateura, Paraguay (South America) there is extreme poverty. The people make most of their living from collecting sellable items from the huge landfill near their town, and drug addictions and gang violence are common among the youth. One day two orchestra directors, Luis Szarán (Sonidos de la Tierra) and Favio Hernán Chávez Morán (Recycled Orchestra), got […]

Webinar: Electronics Recycling in Will County 2012

Join us for a webinar on Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM CDT. This seminar will be hosted at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) in Champaign, IL, and simultaneously broadcast online. The presentation will be archived on the ISTC web site (see https://istc.illinois.edu/about/sustainability_seminars.cfm for more information and additional webinar archives). […]

Engineer to Share Latest Research for Recycling LCD Screens

Old TVs and monitors are becoming old TVs and monitors at record rates as screen size and new capabilities grow and prices shrink. Most of their toxins build up in landfills where they can leach into the environment. If it works sell it or donate it. If it doesn’t, check with a local repair shop […]

Trash Into Treasure: New Advances in Upcycling Electronic Waste

Innovative companies are adding upcycling to their repertoire of materials reuse for electronic waste. Upcycling brings added quality or environmental value to things we throw away. ERS International develops and utilizes new technologies which allow them to obtain maximum recovery value of electronics via electrostatic separation & particle classification. But ERS has also made significant […]

Haiti’s First Bio-fuel Project Gets New Boost

Joe Pickowitz spent part of the winter break working on a first — Haiti’s first bio-fuel production facility. It has been a multi-year collaborative effort between the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) and a non-profit organization, Jatropha Pepinyè, which has focused on an indigenous source of diesel fuel as a foundation for building a […]

Let Go of Your Old Dusty Electronics for Free

ISTC will accept electronic waste for recycling from 2-6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18. As part of the national 2014 Recycle Mania Tournament, electronic waste can be dropped off at three locations on the University of Illinois campus. ISTC will feature vehicle drop off collection behind its 1 East Hazelwood Drive facility in the Research […]

Free Residential Electronics Recycling Collection Event, Champaign Co., 4/12/14

Champaign County (IL) will be hosting a FREE residential electronics collection event on Saturday, April 12, 2014 from 8 a.m. to noon at Parkland College (parking lot M-4). Parkland College is located at 2400 W. Bradley in Champaign. See http://www.parkland.edu/about/maps.aspx for directions to Parkland, as well as a map of the parking lots. Electronic […]