Good News Project hosts Global Recycling Day event March 21

What do an Easy-Bake Oven from the 1970s, a broken vacuum and a cell phone battery have in common? They shouldn’t be thrown in the regular old trash bin. This Saturday, March 21, Wausau’s Good News Project is expanding its normal operations in honor of Global Recycling Day to help residents properly — and safely — dispose of these everyday electronics.

“As we all know, electronics are getting lighter but more prevalent, so they’re not going away any time soon, but they are being processed and disposed of at a quicker rate,” said Christine Daniels, executive director of the Good News Project. “We just believe that, in terms of local impact, making sure we’re keeping items out of the landfill so they can be reused is better for our Earth.”

While electronics are getting smaller and lighter, the sheer volume of e-waste continues to grow. Last year alone, the Good News Project recycled 235,000 pounds of electronics in the Wausau area. In addition to keeping the local environment clean, recycling this e-waste allows people to re-use valuable, often expensive to produce, materials.

“It’s a way for us to recapture really important materials like aluminum, glass, gold and keep other things out of our water streams and our air, like lead and cadmium and mercury,” Daniels said. “We work with a recycler in Onalaska, Wisconsin that does the process of recapturing and reusing those specific materials and commodities.”

On the public health side of recycling benefits, it’s not just about maintaining clean air, water and dirt — other safety elements come into play along the way. For example, rechargeable lithium batteries — whether they’re the ones that power your cell phone, laptop computer, iPad or the rechargeable versions of common AA batteries — can pose significant risks if they are tossed in the trash.

“Rechargeable batteries are very flammable and they are the cause of many, many fires in the landfill every week,” Daniels said.

Good News Project recycles rechargeable batteries for $2.29 a pound. The rechargeable batteries must be used 300 watt-hours or less. Regular alkaline batteries, however, can safely be disposed of in the trash, Daniels said.

“It actually takes more resources to recycle those and there’s nothing hazardous in them, so the recommendation from the DNR and from our organization is to throw those in your garbage,” she said.

Rechargeable batteries are just one of the items Good News Project collects for recycling. They accept nearly any device with a power cord or battery, including computers, cell phones, tablets, printers, televisions, monitors, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, electric toothbrushes and vacuum cleaners. General electronics are accepted at 49 cents per pound.

“Many people don’t realize that their unused electronics hold materials that can be reused,” Daniels said. “When we decide to be a recycling hero at home or at work, we take meaningful action to prevent e-waste from ending up in landfills and we help recover these resources and promote sustainability.”

Global Recycling Day was established in 2018 by the Global Recycling Foundation. Good News Project hosts a weekend recycling event around this day each year to make their services more easily available to those who work a traditional weekday schedule.

“Holding it on a Saturday gives our community an additional opportunity to recycle for those who are unable to come to our regular hours,” Daniels said.

Good News Project offers electronics recycling every Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. They will host another special electronics recycling day on Earth Day: Wednesday, April 22 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.goodnewswi.com.