Cold, wet weather and the threat of snow did not stop metro area residents from putting eCycling at the top of their things-to-do lists last Saturday. On December 1, Waste Management's Recycle America division and Sony Electronics teamed up to provide the public with the opportunity to recycle their old electronics in an environmentally responsible way. The event was free to the public, served over 1,200 Denver area residents, and generated approximately 9 semi-trailer trucks of electronic waste.

"Despite being a cold day, over a thousand people took part in the event," said Joe Aho of Waste Management's Recycle America. "This demonstrates just how important recycling old electronics is to the general public. In fact, all day long participants commented on how thankful they were that Waste Management and Sony provided the opportunity to drop-off used or outdated electronic material, including televisions, computer monitors, computer systems, VCRs, DVDs, phones and stereos. As a result, we hope to provide similar events in the future."

Waste Management shreds and processes e-waste into commodities such as metal, plastic and glass that can be used to manufacture new consumer goods. On average 95 percent of recycled electronic material can be reused.

"The proper recycling of computer hard drives is a hot topic these days," said Aho. "At Waste Management hard drives are destroyed so that no sensitive material is at risk of being made public."

At anytime the public can drop off old electronic equipment at Waste Management's Denver Public Recycling Drop-off Site, located at 3730 East 48th Avenue, for a nominal free. For more information and hours of operation, please call 1-866-588-0572 and press 1.

Waste Management's environmentally-conscious practices extend beyond recycling and include landfill gas-to-energy and waste-to-energy production, increased vehicle fuel efficiency standards, wildlife habitat conservation and a corporate environmental stewardship initiative. To learn more, please visit: www.wastemanagement.com/WM/thinkgreen/index.asp.

As a leader in the consumer electronics industry, Sony Electronics has made environmental responsibility a top priority. To encourage consumers to recycle and dispose of electronic devices in an environmentally sound manner, Sony has established a national recycling program for consumer electronics - The Sony Take Back Recycling Program. Working with Waste Management and its Recycle America locations, the program allows consumers to recycle all Sony-branded products for no fee at 75 eCycling drop-off centers throughout the U.S. www.sony.com/recycle.