Large Turnout for Washington County Electronic Goods Recycling

On Thursday, Aug. 13, Washington County held their electronic and large appliances recycling event. People were able to drop off their unwanted electronics and appliances for proper recycling at the Washington County Fair Park and Conference Center from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. This event was open to all Washington County residents.

Items such as the ones recycled at the event are not permitted to be thrown in the trash like most other garbage. They must be recycled or disposed of properly to avoid hazardous items making their way into landfills or the ground.

Many of the items recycled contained heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium and lithium. Others had previous materials that are important to recycle such as gold, silver, aluminum, copper and nickel.

When items were dropped off at the event, they were either recycled in the proper manner or disposed of in a safe way.

In Washington County, this was the first free event of its kind, and they certainly got a big turn out. In fact, the turn out was so large that the event was extended into the next day.

“On Friday, there was a steady stream of cars - many driven by residents who had waited in line for over an hour on Thursday and returned after hearing the event would continue,” said Washington County in a press release.

COM2 Recycling Solutions collected a grand total of 201,943 pounds of material. Out of that, 160,021 pounds were electronics and 41,922 pounds were appliances. According to the press release, that is the equivalent of 40 F-150s. These numbers do mean something as they broke a record for COM2 in the state of Wisconsin. It is the first time they collected over 200,000 pounds from a single event.

Washington County is appreciative of the public’s participation in their event and thank everyone for their patience during the unexpectedly large turn out.

Those interested in learning more about how Washington County is working to balance conservation and development, please visit https://www.washcowisco.gov/departments/natural_resources.