• Home
  • News
    • Politics / Govt
    • Legislature
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
    • Archives
  • Sports
    • Badgers
    • Packers
      • Titletown Report
    • Brewers
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support

Wisconsin Radio Network

Wisconsin News and Sports

You are here: Home / Politics / Govt / Electronics recycling bill introduced

Electronics recycling bill introduced

March 11, 2009 By WRN Contributor

Thousand of old televisions end up in Wisconsin landfiills A state lawmaker thinks we can keep old TVs and computers out of Wisconsin's landfills. State Senator Mark Miller  (D-Monona) says it's become easier in the last several years, to recycle consumer electronics such as televisions. “One of the reasons that it was expensive in the past is because the way they engineered the device made it difficult to take part. The products have all been re-engineered, so now it's a lot less expensive to take them apart and recover the valuable materials.”

Those materials include commodities like gold, chromium and other metals. “Before the downturn in the economy, commodity prices were such that you could actually pay for the cost of recycling by reselling the gold . . . and the other materials that were recovered from the recycling process,” says Miller.

Miller's bill requires manufacturers of TVs, computers and printers sold in Wisconsin to assume responsibility for collection and proper disposal — and that doesn't mean shipping them overseas. “The reason that we did not want to go with a landfill ban is because that was the ultimate result,” says Miller. (With) a landfill ban, collectors would collect the stuff, ship it overseas and cause environmental damage elsewhere in the world.”

And just how much of your old television can actually be recycled? “It's over ninety five percent,” says Miller. “The most difficult part of a television set is the cathode ray tube, CRT, because it has lead imbedded in the glass. But we have, right here in Wisconsin, CRT Processing, which is one of the three largest cathode ray tube processing centers in the country.” Some Wisconsin municipalities, like Madison, are already recycling electronics, but Miller says many more are not, and the items end up in landfills.

“I'm very much more optimistic,” of the bill's chances during the current session of the legislature,” says Miller, who has introduced similar legislation before. “It passed overwhelmingly in the Senate last time but was never considered in the Assembly. It has bipartisan support.”

AUDIO: Bob Hague reports (:65 MP3)

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Politics / Govt



Featured Stories

Brewers to open season with fans

Report: Former Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. to sign with Brewers

Seven Badgers honored by the WCHA

Panthers rally to upset Wright State in Horizon League quarterfinals

Jokic leads Denver in rout of the Bucks

TwitterFacebook

Sports Headlines

Big Ten Men’s & Women’s basketball Tournaments to Allow Limited Fan Attendance

Brewers to open season with fans

Report: Former Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. to sign with Brewers

Seven Badgers honored by the WCHA

Panthers rally to upset Wright State in Horizon League quarterfinals

More Sports

Tweets by @WRN

Get our news delivered to your inbox:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Copyright © 2021 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC