On January 1st, 2015, New York City’s Sanitation Department announced, informing residents they were no longer allowed to throw away their electronics. This was due to the toxic and dangerous substances electronics contained. Instead of your e-waste being picked up straight in front of your house with the rest of your disposing material, you needed to physically drop off your electronics to facilities that accepted and recycled them for you.
Starting on Monday, October 17th, 2016, the NYC Sanitation Department will begin taking electronics again, announcing this new program called E-waste pickup. Here is how the program works: residents will be able to call 3-1-1 to make an appointment for their old electronics to be picked up. Another way to set an appointment is by filling out an online application.
However, to qualify, residents must have a Staten Island address. The New York City Sanitation has a strict policy only allowing 20 electronics to be removed per household, as long as you have a scheduled and confirmed pick up time and date. Another policy in this program is that residents are to place the electronics on the curb in front of their house. For the senior citizens and the disabled residents who are unable to bring their electronics to their curbs, there is an outside source they will be able to contact.
Staten Island residents should be aware that there is a list of specific electronics that qualify for this E-Waste program, and all the items must weigh less than 100 pounds:
- Televisions (including cathode ray tubes)
- Computer peripherals (including any attached cables or wires)
- Monitors
- Laptops
- Electronic keyboards
- Electronic mouse, and other pointing devices
- Fax machines
- Document scanners
- printers
- VCRs
- Portable music players
- Lamps
- Old toasters
- etc
Three sanitation crews will be able to make 60 pickups a day. The E-waste program will be in action from Monday through Friday, except on city holidays. Be aware to schedule your appointments two weeks in advance.
What made them change their mind? Throughout this year, a lot of illegal dumping has taken place. Mayor Bill de Blasio has stated hope that the new program will help curb illegal dumping.
REMINDER: Before throwing out your computers, or anything that contains memory or personal information, the city recommends erasing all the memory. The Sanitation Department has specialists to make sure everything was removed completely, but we advise you do it yourself as well.
