Upper Saucon Will Expand Electronics Recycling to Twice a Year

Upper Saucon Township officials found out something very important Saturday: If you offer recycling, people will come.

The township held a cleanup day from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday for residents to recycle old electronics, appliances and other waste items.

"It went really well," Township Manager Thomas F. Beil said. "There seemed to be a steady stream of cars the whole time. We had three to four cars lined up at a time. We're going to do this twice a year from now on."

The event was held at the building parking lot at 5500 Camp Meeting Road.

Beil said a report -- a final count on tonnage -- on how much was collected Saturday won't be released until the next week or two. He said a tractor trailer of items will be weighed.

Residents were able to recycle telephones, cell phones, keyboards, mice (the computer kind), cables and cords, stereos and speakers, printers and fax machines, small appliances, DVD players, VCRs and microwaves for no fee.

For a $2 fee, residents could recycle desktop and laptop computers and LCD monitors. Floor copiers were scrapped for $5, computer monitors and hard drives for $7, washers and dryers, dishwashers, stoves and microwaves for $15, dehumidifiers, air conditioners and televisions for $20 and refrigerators for $30.

"It seemed like a lot of old computer equipment and TVs went," Beil said. "Electronic equipment really has a short lifespan."

Beil said he was "pleasantly surprised" that residents paid fees to discard items.

"People wanted to do things properly and have the items recycled instead of just throwing them out," he said.

In prior years, the township held a cleanup day only once a year. But with such success this past spring, a decision was made to do it again in the fall.

"We had a lot of interest," Beil said.