Senator Gallivan Thanks Student Volunteers at West Seneca East WITH $1,072 Donation

WEST SENECA - Senator Patrick M. Gallivan (R-C-I, Elma) presented a donation of $1,072 this week on behalf of Sunnking, Inc. to ‘East Leads, a student leadership organization at West Seneca East High School, for their participation in an electronic waste recycling event held in partnership with Senator Gallivan’s office last June.

Members of Senator Gallivan’s staff and student volunteers from ‘East Leads joined with professionals from Sunnking, Inc. to collect and safely dispose of over 100,000 pounds of old, outdated or damaged electronic equipment in just five hours.

“Electronic equipment, and the sometimes toxic materials they are made of, pose one of the greatest risks to our environment in the 21st century. I am grateful to the administration and especially the students from West Seneca East for stepping up to make this event a huge success and to make our community a little cleaner.”

Gallivan’s electronic waste recycling event was held in cooperation with Sunnking, Inc., a professional electronics recycling company based out of Brockport, NY, and Time Warner Cable, which helps promote the event. The students from West Seneca East volunteer their time unloading old and used electronics and helping the Sunnking staff sort and load the refuse for safe and proper recycling. Sunnking donates one penny for every pound of electronic waste recovered to their volunteer organization partner.

The world produces an estimated 50 million tons of e-waste annually. Americans throw away 30 million computers each year, while our European counterparts toss discard 100 million cell phones. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 80 percent of discarded electronics are deposited in landfills or incinerated without being properly recycled. In the US, 70 percent of the heavy metals found in landfills come from improperly disposed of electronics.