Bishop plugs into Earth Day electronics recycling

Catholic News Service

MARQUETTE, Mich. – Bishop Alexander K. Sample of Marquette joined with other faith leaders, university students, environmentalists and an American Indian tribe in encouraging residents of the state's Upper Peninsula to recycle their old or broken electronic devices for Earth Day 2006.

The second annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep April 22 was to feature 28 collection sites, most in church parking lots, where communications and entertainment electronics - including computers, cell phones and traditional phones, fax machines, televisions and CD players – could be dropped off for recycling.

Organizers hoped to collect 100 tons of electronic waste, or "e-waste," in about three hours.

"While the wonders of technology available to us are a great blessing, we must not lose sight of the fact that it carries with it the serious responsibility to be good stewards of God's creation," said Bishop Sample, whose diocese includes 97 parishes and missions and has a Catholic population of 67,400.

"By making the effort to properly dispose of the things we use for our benefit today, we help preserve the world God has given us for the generations yet to come, that they also may be able to enjoy the wonders that surround us," the bishop added.

On a more personal note, Bishop Sample said he was happy to finally "figure out what to do with some of the stuff that's hanging around in the closets in my space."

Kyra Fillmore, a 28-year-old mother of two, is an Earth Keeper supporter.

"We are just a small group working in small towns with our churches doing seemingly small projects," said Fillmore, a member of St. Louis the King Parish in Harvey. "Our success comes because of the love that our faith congregations have for the environment and creation."

2006 Earth Keeper Clean Sweep coordinator Laurence Ziomkowski said that in addition to protecting the environment the project brings faith communities closer together.

"The Earth Keeper's initiative is a wonderful way that people from various faiths can work together in a very concrete way to bring about change in our communities," said Ziomkowski, who is executive director of Catholic Charities of the Upper Peninsula.

"I've worked in the environmental field for over 20 years and I've never seen a more effective public involvement campaign than the Earth Keepers," said Carl Lindquist, director of the Central Lake Superior Watershed Partnership.

"Last year the Earth Keepers broke all records for the Great Lakes states by collecting over 45 tons of household hazardous waste in one day," Lindquist said. "This year we hope to break that record with our electronic waste collection."

Heavy metals found in electronic waste include lead, zinc, chromium, cadmium and mercury. Trace elements include germanium, gallium, barium, nickel, arsenic, cobalt, manganese, silver and platinum.

The record-setting 2005 Earth Keeper Clean Sweep saw thousands of residents turn over more common poisons, pesticides, vehicle batteries, oil-based paint and other household hazardous waste in three hours than the three county landfill hazardous waste collection sites gather in two years.

Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes of the Northern Great Lakes Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said "an important part of all faith traditions is to care for God's creation."

"We are connected to the rivers, forests and the land of our Upper Peninsula because God created it all and said it was 'very good,'" said Bishop Skrenes, the head of 91 Lutheran churches with 40,420 members. "We who are heirs of God's creation are privileged to be its stewards."

At an event on the campus of Northern Michigan University, Bishop Skrenes said some call those who work to preserve the environment "tree huggers" or "environmental wackos."

"No, these students are not that," he said. "They are visionaries who love the woods and rivers of our U.P. and want it for their children and grandchildren -- as a sign of God's continuing creation."

Also joining in the campaign were representatives of the Episcopal, Presbyterian, United Methodist, Unitarian Universalist, Bahai, Jewish and Zen Buddhist faiths, as well as leaders of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Council.