DSU to Begin new Recycling Program

Posted on Wednesday, March 5, 2008

A new recycling program is going to help raise money for The Karl E. Mundt Library. DSU has teamed up with EcoPhones for a green fundraiser. EcoPhones accepts, and pays, for small electronic items for recycling. Money raised through the recycling project will be used to purchase materials such as DVDs for the library collection.

According to the program, EcoPhones, on average Americans replace their cell phones every 12-18 months which means that an estimated 130 million cell phones will be discarded annually. Cell phones also contain toxic substances. The cadmium from a single phone is capable of polluting 158,200 gallons of water. Also of note is that approximately 300 million ink jet cartridges are thrown away each year.

Boxes to collect recycled items will be placed at the library and at the Trojan Center on campus as well as at the Madison Public Library. Cell phones, ink jet cartridges, DVD's, laptop/notebook computers, MP3 players, digital cameras, digital video recorders, digital picture frames, GPS devices, portable DVD players, video games, and video game consoles will all be accepted whether they work or not.