Old electronic equipment sits in a recycling bin Friday at the Pendleton Sanitation Services in Pendleton. The State of Oregon announced recently 19 million pounds of electronics were recycled last year.<br><i>Staff photo by E.J. Harris</i>

Pendleton and Hermiston residents combined to recycle almost 200,000 pounds of electronics in 2009 under the new Oregon E-Cycles Program, contributing to the better-than-expected 19 million pounds of materials the state collected during that time.

Since the beginning of last year, Oregonians in all counties have been able to recycle – free of charge – any unused computers, monitors or TVs. But an obsolete mouse or keyboard aren’t among the accepted items, said Mike McHenry of Pendleton Sanitary Service, Inc.

Neither McHenry nor Mike Jewett of Hermiston’s Sanitary Disposal knew what to expect when the program began last year. But both reported successful returns so far.

Sanitary Disposal processed just under 44 tons of recycled e-waste last year, Jewett said, or close to 88,000 pounds. Pendleton Sanitary Service brought in about 56 tons, McHenry said, or about 112,000 pounds.

“Honestly, we were flabbergasted,”?McHenry said, noting that total was “absolutely more than we thought.”

Since Jan. 1 of this year, it’s now against Oregon law for recyclable electronics to end up in a landfill. But if a customer does throw out one of those items at Sanitary Disposal, workers can simply pull them and properly recycle them, Jewett said.

McHenry and Jewett said volumes have remained fairly steady since the new restriction took effect this year.

The state Department of Environmental Quality last week reported “pent-up demand”?as a big reason for the fast start to electronic recycling. Jewett agreed. He said some residents likely had unused computers or TVs in storage, not sure what else to do with them until last year.

“Given that e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in America, coupled with the rate at which people purchase new electronics, it’s not surprising there’s a glut of e-waste just waiting to be recycled,”?DEQ?project lead Kathy Kiwala said in a released statement.

This year, the state expects to collect more than 21 million pounds of recycled e-waste, according to DEQ. A list of collection sites is available at www.oregonecycles.org.