CHRISTINE ROBINSON Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Thursday, July 31, 2008 12:00 am
Televisions from the days of fake-wood paneling and built in entertainment systems, rest near the outer walls of Poverty Resistance.
Some work, some don't, and most arrived under the cover of night, said owner Mary Ann Budenske.
As she walks around the Wolcott Street side of her store, Budenske pats her hand on a large, wooden console with a television and speakers inside, predating by decades the current era of flat screens and High Definition.
"This one works, but it isn't digital," she said. "It's huge and heavy and no one wants it."
Budenske's nonprofit thrift store is full of outdated televisions, computer monitors and printers. When there's extra money, she takes them to the landfill, but at $10 a piece, these worn-out and sometimes-nonfunctional electronics become a financial burden she can't bear.
"You say you don't want them," she said. "We tell people everyday we aren't taking their old TVs. The biggest problem is they get dropped off. Two were just dropped off at night, and there they were."
Budenske asked the city to consider waiving some of the electronics fees during a council work session today. She has roughly 22 electronic items right now and more appear almost everyday.
She mostly blames the federal government for the problems, since many people want to buy new TVs to be compatible with the upcoming February digital regulations.
Many people also don't want to pay the electronics fees, she said. This means the units are dumped on her doorstep - in working condition or not.
Budenske isn't the first nonprofit representative to come to the Casper City Council asking for electronics fees leniency.
In June, Lori Becker, executive director of the Casper Area Chamber of Commerce, asked the city to waive the fees because the chamber's nonprofit Computers for Kids program was full of computers that didn't work.
In total, the program had 225 pieces of computer equipment that were either so outdated they didn't work or broken.
The council ultimately voted to waive the electronics fees for the program, which rehabilitates computers to give to needy children in the Casper area.
Council members also discussed how to lower the electronics fees. Some members suggested hiring people to break apart the units, lowering the per-pound cost that the city faces when it ships the electronics to a recycling firm.
Electronics are dangerous for the pits at the landfill, but are pricey for the city to recycle.
The e-waste often contains hazardous chemicals, including cadmium in displays, toxins in circuit boards and mercury in batteries. Older televisions and computer monitors can contain between four and eight pounds of lead, making it potentially harmful if buried in the landfill.
In the mean time, Budenske will continue to discourage people from dropping off old televisions on her store's doorstep and slowly take the electronics to the landfill as she scrapes together the fees.
Contact city reporter Christine Robinson at (307) 266-0639 or christine.robinson@trib.com
The Casper City Council work session will be at 4:30 p.m. today in City Hall, 200 N. David St. The meeting is open to the public for viewing but not for participation.]]->