Cool Kids and GCC's Earth Club team up to celebrate Earth Day April 20

Cool Kids and GCC's Earth Club
team up to celebrate Earth Day April 20

Generation Cool Kids, the student Earth Club of Genesee Community College and the Student Activities Office are working collectively to produce ECO-Fest, a fun and educational program aimed at increasing awareness of important environmental issues and opportunities. The event is free and open to the public and scheduled on Thursday, April 20 from 4:30 until 8 p.m. at Genesee Community College's Batavia Campus with most events occurring in the Forum.

ECO-Fest 2006 includes exhibits, presentations, activities, and prizes, and is an ideal experience for families, young adults and anyone else interested in celebrating Earth Day. With the overall objective of ECO-Fest becoming an annual event that makes environmental awareness as enjoyable as it is educational, planners decided to fully introduce one of the most contemporary environmental issues of today: E-Waste.

The ECO-Fest "Evolving E-Waste Exhibit and Disposal Day" recognizes that one of the most rapidly growing quantities of garbage today is "E-waste" consisting of computers, monitors, television sets, hi-fi sets, mobile phones, typewriters, printers, scanners, personal digital assistants (PDAs), game consoles, and other electronics, as well as non alkaline batteries that operate these devices. The U.S. alone produces more than 220 million tons of (non-battery) E-waste annually. And what many people don't realize is that electronic waste contains materials which require special handling and recycling methods.

Many companies, including Regional Computer Recycling and Recovery (RCR&R) are in the business of harvesting some of the precious metals from E-waste, remanufacturing some items, or processing and disposing of waste products properly.

The Evolving E-Waste Exhibit and Disposal Day with ECO-Fest, is being produced in cooperation with RCR&R. The E-Waste Exhibit actually begins on Monday, April 17 with the college community, including faculty, staff, students and administrators kicking-off a count-down to ECO-Fest by bringing together E-Waste from around the campus and from their homes and dormitories to be displayed, collectively, in the E-Waste Exhibit that will gradually grow from Monday, April 17 through Thursday, April 20 in a dedicated space in the college's central Forum. Information about E-Waste and its impact on the waste stream and environment will be an important part of the exhibit.

It should be noted that all kitchen appliances with the exception of microwave ovens and car batteries are not considered E-waste and will not be accepted.

For a comprehensive list of acceptable E-waste go to www.generationcool.biz. This program is restricted to acceptable electronics generated from households and residential consumers only. No business E-waste will be accepted.