The amount of computers, monitors and TVs Oregonians dispose of through the state’s E-Cycles program continues to grow.

Last year, the program collected about 26 million pounds of electronic waste, equal to about 6.75 pounds per capita, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, a more than 36 percent increase in two years.

Established to minimize waste, save energy and reduce greenhouse gases, the Oregon E-Cycles program grew out of a law approved in 2007 banning the disposal of computers, monitors and TVs at landfills, according to the DEQ. It also requires electronics manufacturers, currently more than 160, to pay for the recycling program.

“We’ve continued to collect more pounds every year,” said Mary Lou Perry, solid waste specialist for the DEQ. “It’s convenient and free, and we have over 200 collection sites throughout the state.”

Central Oregon has 11 collection sites, according to the program website.

Since collections began in January 2009, the amount of waste has increased from 19 million pounds to about 26 million for 2011, according to the DEQ’s biennial report, released in March.

It has also saved the energy equivalent of about 8 million gallons of gasoline over that time and reduced an amount of net greenhouse gases comparable to emissions from about 16,300 average passenger cars per year.

The department hopes to collect 27.05 million pounds of electronic waste, equal to 7.1 pounds per capita, this year.

Perry said Oregon E-Cycles encourages people to recycle their electronics responsibly, so they aren’t being shipped overseas and disposed of in a way that harms the environment.

“There’s potentially hazardous materials in these devices,” she said. “(Through Oregon E-Cycles) they’re not going to expose Oregonians and people in Third World countries to these materials.”

Printers and peripherals — keyboards, mice and associated cords — were added to the list of covered electronic devices in 2011, Perry said, but won’t be accepted for collection until 2015.

On the Web

For more information about the Oregon E-Cycles Program, visit www.deq.state.or.us/lq/ecycle