SUPERIOR, Wis. (WTAQ) - It’s not just Wisconsinites who will be affected by a new state law aimed at keeping electronics out of the garbage.
Residents of northeast Minnesota will also have to comply, because their garbage ends up in Superior. Starting next Wednesday, it will be against the law to put old computers, TV’s, and other electronic items in landfills and trash incinerators.
It’s a Wisconsin law, but folks in Duluth and Carleton County Minnesota will also have to comply – as well as the North Shore of Lake Superior. Their trash is taken to Duluth before it’s trucked into Wisconsin for burial at the Moccasin Mike Landfill in Superior.
Minnesota also has an electronics’ garbage ban, but Wisconsin includes items the Gopher State doesn’t – like old VCR’s, DVD players, and cell phones. Duluth’s sanitary district has set up a location where people can drop off their old electronics for recycling.
Some items are free, while larger items like TV’s will cost $7 to drop off. The new Wisconsin law is aimed at preventing groundwater pollution from the chemicals of old electronics. Manufacturers have been required to have recycling programs since January.
