C.H. Booth Library hosted an electronics recycling collection from February 28-March 3. During this short window, the library collected over a hundred devices.

The library has hosted this program before, about four times, and works directly with Sandy Hook resident Kevin Koschel. Koschel explained he has worked with the town, Board of Education, and now Western Connecticut State University as a self-described “IT guy.”

Jennifer Nash, director of C.H. Booth Library, shared that the library tries to host an electronics collection twice a year, and this most recent one coincides with spring cleaning and Earth Day.

“It’s in an effort to promote environmental sustainability,” Nash said. “[the collection provides] the community with a responsible way to dispose of electronics. By participating in this event, community members can help prevent electronic waste from ending up in landfills and ensure that valuable materials are repurposed.”

The library collected cellphones, old flat-screen monitors, small printers, old gaming systems, iPads and other older Apple devices, and more.

Koschel explained that he sometimes takes the devices apart himself and finds ways to repurpose the components within the electronics, citing the metal casings on PCs and desktops as recyclable material. He also shared that he works with local computer shops that collect on Koschel’s behalf.

“If you look at the figures, there’s so much electronic waste, it’s crazy … It’s insane to not recycle it, or reuse it, or, you know, refurbish it in some cases, it’s just so wasteful,” Koschel said.

He continued, “It really took me years to hone my system and figure out what goes where and who takes what.”

Nash pointed out that not only does Koschel recycle, he also recycles the electronics safely.

“A lot of people don’t know what to do with their electronics because they might have their data on the hard drive, and those hard drives got to get securely wiped or destroyed so that their data is not exposed,” Koschel said.

“Anything that I get gets wiped so there’s no way for anybody to retrieve any data,” Koschel said.

Koschel added that he thinks Newtown has a really good grip on what can and cannot be recycled and urges residents to “just recycle it” when it comes to electronics. The recycled technology may be obsolete for some, but to others, it’s just right.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.