Hampton residents donate electronics, bikes and more at Recycle Rama

Hampton residents showed up in droves to recycle thousands of pounds of electronics, scrap metal, bicycles and more.

The 15th annual Recycle Rama, which in the past collected more than 50,000 pounds of electronic waste, was held on May 13 in the Hampton Community Park and Community Center parking lot. The event is designed to help people recycle items that they might have trouble recycling on a regular basis.

“We were happy with the turnout that we had from the community,” said Amber Pucciarelli, a part-time manager for the township’s Department of Community Services. She coordinated the event alongside Melanie Martino, the parks and recreation programs administrator.

At the event, police officers helped direct cars through five collection areas. One of the most popular was JVS Environmental, where residents unloaded their electronics, including box TVs and computers

At another station, Thrivent Community — Three Rivers collected used bikes in “repairable condition,” which they then repair and donate to various charities, such as Communicycle in Aliquippa. Ashley Todd, who volunteered at Recycle Rama and is the operations manager at Thrivent, said they got between 30 to 50 bikes.

Todd said she thinks Recycle Rama is an important event because it helps Thrivent connect with Hampton residents who might not have heard about their bike collection program before. She said people can drop off bikes throughout the year at the Thrivent office, 1736 Ferguson Road, McCandless.

Other frequented stops at Recycle Rama were Construction Junction, which accepted construction materials such as appliances and cabinets that were in “usable condition.” Residents also were able to shred up to two 13-gallon bags of paper and recycle bottles, jars and the like using the township’s glass-recycling bin.