Mr. K's is holding a one-day Electronic Recycling Collection Event in Waimea:

• Sunday, October 29th
• 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
• Parker Ranch Center at 67-1185 Mamalahoa Highway, Waimea
  In the parking lot behind the food court. Enter from Lindsey Road.
  
• Flyer PDF.
  

Electronics such as  TVs, computers (laptops & desktops), tablets, printers and cameras will be accepted. Here's the full list of what's accepted and not accepted for recycling.

Businesses, government agencies and nonprofits need to schedule an appointment in advance.  Contact Mr. K's.

Mr. K's will pay for these items:

• Lead-acid (car) batteries
  $0.10/lb for large (with chargers on top)
  $0.05/lb for small
• UPS systems (must be removed from casing)
  $0.05/lb

We're looking forward to holding a collection event in Waimea again after a long time!

     We can express our mālama ka ʻāina, caring for our land, by responsibly disposing of things we can no longer use. The lead acid battery in our cars typically expires in 3 - 5 years.
     From 2015 - 2019, an average of 202,013 vehicles were registered each year in Hawai`i County. If owners replaced their car battery every four years, that would mean over 50,500 batteries on average discarded every year. That's a lot of batteries!
     In the first half of 2023, Mr. K's collected 78 tons of lead acid batteries (about 3,900 units) from Big Island residents for responsible recycling. Why is this important? Three reasons:

• Lead acid batteries are super recyclable. The typical battery is at least 80% recycled material to begin with, and its 3 main components -- lead, plastic and acid -- are close to 100% recyclable. And the lead can be recycled multiple times without loss of performance.
  
  
• In 2021, 4.7 million tons of lead was extracted from the earth. Every pound of lead that is recycled is a pound that we don't need to mine ... potentially multiple times.
  
  
• Responsible recycling prevents the poisoning of people and the environment, as lead is a potent neurotoxin and a toxic metal.
  
  

      See below for a visualization of how much has been extracted in 2021 alone.  Note: 1 "brick" = 1,000,000 metric tonnes; 1 metric tonne = 1.1 ton; 4.3 m tonnes = about 4.74 m tons.