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Rotary Club drive seeking metal scrap

Will make appointments during Oct. 5-12 to collect materials

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

That pile of scrap in your basement, backyard or garage can be turned into community service through a metal collection fundraiser planned by the Charles City Rotary Club.

The event will be held Saturday, Oct. 5, through Saturday, Oct. 12, when people can drop off a long list of metal and other items at Denny’s Recycling in Charles City, or make arrangements for Rotary members to come to their home or business to pick up the items.

Appointments can be made by calling Rotary member Chris Garden at L&J Industries, 641-228-1753.

The list of items that will be accepted is lengthy and includes most things made mostly of metals such as steel, iron, stainless steel, aluminum, copper and lead.

Vehicles such as cars, trucks, farm implements, garden tractors, wagons and trailers will be accepted, as will batteries, wheel rims, radiators, heater cores, catalytic converters, hubcaps, shocks, transmissions and other mostly metal vehicle parts.

Tires will not be accepted, unless they are still mounted on a vehicle.

All appliances, including microwaves, dehumidifiers, ranges and grills, washers and dryers, refrigerators and freezers and furnaces, and electronics such as stereos, copying machines, computers and printers will be accepted.

Denny Tynan, owner of Denny’s Recycling, at 1100 13th Ave., said that even though items such as computers and printers are largely plastic, they contain enough copper and precious metals in them to make them worth recycling.

“Plus, it keeps them out of the landfill,” he said.

One of the main exceptions to items that will be hauled away free of charge is televisions. They will be accepted at Denny’s or collected by the Rotary, but there will be a $10 charge for each one, the same price that must be paid at the landfill.

Other items or materials that cannot be accepted, Tynan said, are motorhomes, campers, fiberglass, wood, boats other than steel or aluminum, “and, of course, any garbage.”

Metal doors and window frames will be accepted, but without any glass. Other metal home items such as gutters and downspouts, chain link fencing, plumbing pipes, electrical wiring, metal lamps and light fixtures, steel or aluminum siding and metal roofing will be accepted at Denny’s or collected by the Rotary.

Outdoor power equipment such as mowers and snow blowers will be accepted, but they should be drained of fluids.

Chris Garden, the chairman of the Rotary Club’s service project committee, said he will have a pickup and a trailer available to collect and haul the scrap, and will have access to a skid loader if needed for heavy items.

Garden asked that when people call him to set up an appointment for pickup that they have some idea of the quantity and weight of the items they want to donate so the club members can plan accordingly.

Garden said a Lion’s Club metal scrap drive held over the summer raised about $3,500.
“Scrap prices have come down since then, but they didn’t go collect the items, so we should do OK,” he said.

“Maybe we’ll offer to make it a friendly competition each year,” Garden said about the two clubs.

Funds raised by the Rotary Club through the scrap drive will go to support club community projects. Past projects have included planting more than 100 trees around the community, and giving away free home fire extinguishers, first aid kits and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to community households.

A current project the club is working on is raising funds to purchase then give away safety kits for homes with infants.

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