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Death toll in Joplin rises to 156, electronics being sorted for recycling

Cleanup of tornado damage in Joplin, Mo. continues, including an effort to recycle electronics damaged in the storm.
(via Flickr/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region)
Cleanup of tornado damage in Joplin, Mo. continues, including an effort to recycle electronics damaged in the storm.

As Joplin, Mo. continues to recover from the tornado that devastated the area just over a month ago, there is an unfortunate report of another death related to the disaster, along with an effort to make something useful out of the wreckage.

Joplin's public information office says it was notified Wednesday of the death of Grace M. Sanders, who was injured in the tornado. No other information about the victim or the death was released.  With Sanders' death, the number of deaths from the tornado has now risen to 156.

A Missouri recycling company has begun taking apart truckloads of damaged electronics collected in the wake of the tornado.

The regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency says MRC Recycling is taking the electronics collected by the EPA and its contractors. The agency says the first five truckloads of damaged and discarded electronics have been shipped from Joplin to MRC's facility in the southeastern Missouri town of Park Hills, where they'll be broken down into recyclable components.

The EPA said it collected nearly 13,000 pieces of electronic equipment at its drop-off site, which has recently closed. Another city site for discarded goods remains open.