Cook County Land Services Director Neva Maxell. Photo provided 

From Cook County, MN - June 5, 2026

By Neva Maxwell, Land Services Director

That pile of mystery cords in the junk drawer?
The old desktop computer in the basement?
The cracked tablet, broken printer, or outdated TV collecting dust in the garage?

Cook County residents will have a chance to responsibly recycle those items — and clear out some clutter — during the County’s annual Electronic Waste Collection Event.

Event Details
Saturday, June 13, 2026
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Cook County Recycling Center
630 5th Avenue West, Grand Marais

The collection event is hosted by Cook County in partnership with Retrofit Companies and provides residents with a convenient and cost-effective way to safely dispose of electronic waste, batteries, lamps, mercury-containing items, and small appliances that should not go into regular household trash.

Electronic waste, commonly called “e-waste,” is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world. Items such as computers, televisions, phones, monitors, printers, cords, and tablets often contain recyclable materials like copper, aluminum, and steel that can be recovered and reused.

They can also contain hazardous materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and lithium batteries.

 When electronics are thrown into the trash, those materials may end up in landfills, where they can create long-term environmental and public health concerns. Minnesota law already prohibits certain electronics, including many televisions and computer monitors, from being disposed of in regular household garbage.

In other words: electronics are too valuable — and sometimes too hazardous — to simply throw away.

Recycling electronics helps conserve natural resources, reduces energy use tied to manufacturing new materials, and keeps potentially harmful substances out of the environment. In a place like Cook County, where clean water, forests, wetlands, and Lake Superior are central to our community and economy, responsible recycling plays an important role in long-term environmental stewardship.

The June 13 event will accept a wide variety of items, including TVs, monitors, laptops, printers, lamps, batteries, microwaves, mercury devices, and small household electronics.

One important reminder for residents: devices with embedded batteries should ideally be brought to the June e-waste event. An embedded battery is a battery that is built into a device and not easily removable. Examples include laptops, cordless vacuums, rechargeable tools, tablets, electric scooters, hoverboards, and many modern electronics.

Why does that matter?

Across the country, waste and recycling facilities have experienced a growing number of fires caused by damaged lithium-ion batteries that were improperly thrown away. Proper recycling helps ensure those materials are handled safely.

Cook County encourages residents to bring battery-containing devices and embedded battery items to the June collection event whenever possible.

The County will also host its annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event on July 18 in partnership with Resource Renew. That event is intended for additional household hazardous materials and batteries that have already been separated from devices, including lithium batteries, rechargeable batteries, cellphone batteries, vape devices, e-bike batteries, and lead-acid batteries.

The July event will also provide disposal opportunities for qualifying businesses categorized as Very Small Quantity Generators (VSQGs). Businesses interested in participating must register in advance with Resource Renew to arrange proper disposal of eligible hazardous materials.

County officials encourage residents to think twice before throwing recyclable materials into the trash. Many electronic devices still contain recoverable materials that can be reused instead of permanently buried in a landfill.

And for many households, the event is also a good excuse to finally clean out storage areas.

That flip phone from 2005? Recycle it.
The mystery box of charging cables? Probably recycle those too.
The VCR you have not plugged in for 15 years? It just may finally be time.

For accepted items, pricing information, and additional event details, visit: https://retrofitcompanies.com/cook-county-recycling-event-2026

County Connections is a column on timely topics and service information from your Cook County government. Cook County – Supporting Community Through Quality Public Service.