New York's e-waste and textiles recycling hits new milestones

By Paul Ploumis

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has announced that its recycling programs-refashionNYC and e-cycleNYC, have achieved important milestone, with collection of both exceeding 10 million pounds. The DSNY press release noted that the collection of used textiles through refashionNYC has crossed 10 million pounds. Also, 10 million pounds of used electronics have been collected through e-cycleNYC electronics recycling program. The milestone announcement was made during a function held at Stivers Gardens at 300 West 135th Street in Central Harlem.

Kathryn Garcia, Sanitation Commissioner stated that the Department is extremely thankful to its partners-Housing Works and ERI for helping them to reach the recycling milestone. She also thanked New York City residents for their whole-hearted co-operation. The concerted effort has given new life to 10 million pounds of textiles and has helped to prevent 10 million pounds of used electronics from ending in landfills. DSNY noted that 430,000 New York residents have access to re-fashionNYC. Also, 2.3 million residents have access to e-cycleNYC.

Andrew Greene, senior vice president, development, marketing, and entrepreneurial businesses, Housing Works stated that reaching 10 million pounds is a huge accomplishment and the non-profit is honored to be part of it. Greene hoped that the collection volumes would report considerable increase over the coming years. Meantime, John Shegerian, chairman and CEO of ERI noted that the organization is honored to have partnered with the great city of New York for effective and responsible recycling of potentially harmful electronics.

Started in 2013, e-cycleNYC program collects unwanted electronics from apartment buildings with more than 10 units. The collected electronics are recycled by ERI in compliance with highest industry standards. The program accepts wide range of electronic devices such as televisions, VCRs, DVRs, DVD players, cable and satellite boxes, video game consoles, computers, small servers, monitors, laptops and peripherals, printers, scanners, fax machines, small electronics including tablets, mobile phones and MP3 players. The public-private partnership between the Department and ERI is fully funded by electronics manufacturers and is offered free-of-cost to residents and participating buildings.

Established in 2010, the re-fashionNYC program is operated in partnership with non-profit Housing Works. The program accepts clothing, shoes, purses, gloves, scarves, hats, belt, towels, curtains, bedding, linens, clean rags and clothing wraps. A donation bin is placed in common building area in apartment buildings with 10 or more units, office buildings, commercial buildings and schools where residents are allowed to drop unwanted textiles. The clothing and accessories collected from bins are sorted out at the Housing Works warehouse in Queens. All proceeds from donations support the charitable mission of Housing Works, which conducts various operations and campaigns to fight AIDS and homelessness.