WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - Thursday was the first day of the bi-annual electronic waste collection held at the Sedgwick County West Yard.    

Cars lined up and trunks were filled with all things electronics as residents safely discarded items.  

Sedgwick County partnered with a company out of Wisconsin with a zero landfill policy.  

"I think a lot of people just throw stuff away. We live in a throw-away society it seems like and we never used to be that way," said Goddard resident Dan Pellett.  

Sedgwick County Environment Project Manager Catherine Johnson added, “It's really great, like these things are not going into the landfill, we're not leaching chemicals into the environment and things are done safely." 

Everything from laptops, printers, televisions, cell phones, batteries, tablets and more were recycled.  

Johnson said they sanitized hard drives and shredded data making sure it was secure.  

She said when electronics end up in the landfill, it could pollute the water.  

Johnson also explains the benefits of recycling the minerals and elements in some of the electronics.  

"There's the reuse part of it that we're not mining virgin materials all the time we're using what we've already got and then there's the piece that these are not leaching into the environment," said Johnson.   

The recycling event is free to Sedgwick County residents. It goes from April 18-20 and April 25-27 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

For more information you can visit the Sedgwick County website by clicking here.