MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin's new electronics recycling law takes effect Wednesday.

It bans the use of landfills or incinerators to dispose of old electronic devices, including televisions and computers. The ban also includes keyboards, speakers, flash drives and other computer accessories, as well as cell phones.

The law covers everyone in Wisconsin, including schools, businesses and households.

Old electronic devices can be dropped off at specific recycling sites for a fee.

The city of Madison has prohibited throwing old electronic devices in the trash for three years, and now the policy is affecting everyone in the state.

Nowadays, there are far more places to take e-waste for recycling for little or no fee, WISC-TV reported.

George Dreckmann, Madison's recycling coordinator, said the law will help the environment.

"There's a lot of usable material in computers, so we don't want to throw them away. Then there's a dark side to this where there are a lot of hazardous materials, heavy metals like lead and cadmium that we want to keep out of our landfill so they don't end up in our groundwater," Dreckmann said.

For more information on electronics recycling as well as a list of e-cycle collection sites by county, visit http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/wm/ecycle.