THUNDER BAY -- More than eight tonnes of electronic waste steered clear of the local landfill site on Saturday thanks to the E-Waste & Tire Collection event outside the Thunder Bay Casino.
About 415 tires were stacked high in the casino parking lot by the end of the afternoon as local residents dropped off televisions, DVD players and even a car for the seventh annual event.
Eco-Superior environmental programs coordinator Shannon Costigan said holiding the collection while most households are doing spring cleaning makes it easy to access safe disposal methods.
"It's sometimes just a little bit hard for people to get to the right place to recycle those electronics and tires," she said.
"We want to make sure the old electronics stay out of our landfill systm, simply because they contain heavy metals and toxic chemicals that can get into our waterways if we don't take care of them properly."
Organizers added tires to the traditional e-waste disposal event in 2015 after seeing e-waste begin to peak.
"The reaction has been really great this year," said Alan Forbes, lead of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Green Team.
"We've been noticing a bit of a decline in e-waste we've been collecting each year, which is great. There are pletny of options for e-waste now so that's why we decided to add tires last year. It's a new component and there's not a lot of collection places for tires."