Letter to the Editor: City Council should consider defraying costs of recycling e-waste

I recently took a broken two-slice electric toaster to the Glendale recycle yard on Chevy Chase to dispose of it in a responsible manner. I was surprised when I was told there would be a charge to recycle it since I have recycled items there in the past at no charge. A private company was in charge and weighed the toaster to determine the fee that I paid to recycle it.

I contacted the Public Works Integrated Waste Management Department about this and received a very courteous reply explaining that “due to global markets, the cost to recycle electronics has gone up considerably. Thus a fee must now be charged to make up the difference in cost.”

I wonder if this situation was ever brought to the attention of the Glendale City Council. Perhaps they might have reconsidered spending $500,000 on an ice rink behind City Hall and, out of concern for the environment, used those funds to defray the costs of recycling electronics.

Marie Fish
Glendale