Dane County and Cascade Asset Management Sponsor Electronics Recycling Program

April 20, 2005
Lesley Sillaman, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823 or cell (608) 669-5606
County Executive

Madison – Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk today joined Cascade Asset Management to announce the semi-annual electronic reuse and recycling drop off, scheduled for this Saturday, April 23 from 9am to 2pm at Cascade, 2601 Seiferth Road. Falk encouraged citizens to bring used televisions, computers and cell phones to be recycled. “Thanks to the hard work of Cascade Asset Management, we are able to provide people with a safe alternative to discard their electronics,” said Falk. “Instead of throwing these potentially harmful materials into our garbage cans, we can reuse and recycle them and minimize harm to our environment.” ”We are always impressed with the growing participation in this event,” said Neil Peters-Michaud of Cascade. “Our work would be impossible without individuals making the extra effort to collect and deliver their unwanted electronics to Cascade.” This is the 12th drop off with Cascade, with over 440,000 pounds of material being collected in the past nine programs. There is a $5.00 charge to recycle monitors and laptop computers, and a $25 charge to recycle most TVs (Panasonic, Sharp, Technics, and Quasar brands are recycled for free with the manufacturer paying the tab.) All other electronic equipment will be accepted at no cost during the event. The materials dropped off are tested for possible reuse, and if they are not suitable for reuse as a whole, the individual components are re-used if possible. All data on computer equipment is destroyed by Cascade. If not suitable for reuse, the materials are recycled. Statewide, an estimated 36,000 tons of electronics are discarded annually, releasing a variety of toxic materials, including lead, mercury and flame retardants into our landfills. The Dane County solid waste ordinance prohibits the landfilling of toxic material in county owned landfills. For more information and a list of places for the reuse and recycling of computers, cell phones and other electronics, visit the Dane County website at http://www.co.dane.wi.us and click on the recycling symbol at the bottom. ###