| Office of the Secretary | Contact: Joan Moody |
| For Immediate Release: November 16, 2002 | 202-208-3280 |
GOVERNMENT LEADERS PITCH IN FOR "AMERICA RECYCLES DAY"
WASHINGTON, DC - Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton today joined other leaders from the federal and D.C. governments and private partners to celebrate America Recycles Day.
The celebration at the base of the Washington Monument - one of the nation's most prominent patriotic landmarks - featured a massive electronics recycling drive sponsored by the District of Columbia, the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior. It included private sector partners
- Dell Corporation, the National Recycling Coalition, and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.
"This recycling effort is an excellent example of a public-private partnership to provide safe disposal of unusable and obsolete electronics equipment and protect the environment," Secretary Norton said.
Participating leaders included D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams; James Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; John Howard, Federal Environmental Executive and Chair of the White House Task Force on Waste Prevention; Preston Read, Chair of America Recycles Day; Don K. Brown, Director of Environmental Affairs, Dell; Meg Morris, President of the National Recycling Coalition; Robin Wiener, President of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc.; and Heather Bowman, Electronics Industries Association.
"Most obsolete computers and other electronics - millions per year- are sent to landfills, incinerated, shipped as waste exports, or shoved aside in attics and basements," Norton noted. "At the Department of the Interior, we recognize and appreciate the importance of effective recycling."
In addition to participating in today's event, in April Interior Department employees participated in a first-of-its-kind recycling event at Rock Creek Park, which brought in the equivalent of 4 tons of recyclable material.
"We are committed at the Department of the Interior to reducing our environmental footprint, whether it's our custodians using recycled plastic trash bags or the use of cleaning solvents that minimize impacts on the environment," said Norton. " We stress our recycling efforts. Altogether last year we recycled more than 470 tons of glass, paper and aluminum."
Secretary Norton read a proclamation about America Recycles Day from President Bush and also thanked D.C. Mayor Williams for co-sponsoring the event and encouraging recycling. She also highlighted the leadership of companies like Dell Computers that recognize the importance of recycling.
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