Golden collects electronic trash for recycling

State senator calls his environmental fair a major success

November 16, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Residents brought electronic items to the recycling event in Bay Ridge. Photo courtesy of state Sen. Marty Golden’s office

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Bay Ridge residents came to a church parking lot on a recent Saturday afternoon to drop off their old television sets, worn out computers and obsolete VCRs for state Sen. Marty Golden, who gladly accepted the out-of-date electronic devices. No, Golden hasn’t become a collector of antiques. He turned the electronic items over to the city to be recycled.

Golden (R-C-Bay Ridge-Southwest Brooklyn) sponsored an e-waste collection event in the parking lot of Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church on 74th Street near Third Avenue, inviting residents to bring their used televisions, computers and other devices as a way of ridding their homes of useless trash while at the same time helping the environment.

Golden, who has conducted similar collections in the past, called his environmental fair a major success. “I was again met by many constituents who took advantage of this opportunity to get some of the unwanted items around their house properly disposed of,” he said in a statement.

In 2015, it became illegal in New York State to place electronic waste at curbside for sanitation collection.

Here are examples of items that residents can no longer toss out with recyclable trash for regular Department of Sanitation pick-ups:

Televisions
Computers including any permanently attached cable or wiring
Electronic keyboards
Electronic mice and other pointing devices
Fax machines, document scanners, and printers.
TV peripherals, including any permanently attached cable or wiring
VCRs
Digital video recorders
DVD players
Digital converter boxes
Cable or satellite receivers
Electronic or video game consoles
Portable digital music players

Violating the sanitation code can result in a $100 fine.

Residents looking to get rid of these items can bring them to Dept. of Sanitation drop-off sights or to special events such as the Bay Ridge environmental fair that Golden sponsored.

In addition to the electronic waste collection, Golden worked in partnership with non-profit and government agencies to offer free shredding services at Our Lady of Angels. Residents were also able to bring their old clothes to the parking lot to be donated to charity.

The Bay Ridge trash fair was one of two environmental events Golden recently sponsored for residents in his Southwest Brooklyn senate district. He hosted a similar fair in the Marine Park end of his district last month to help residents get rid of clutter.

“Many people participated in the recycling events held in the Marine Park and the Our Lady of Angels parking lots, taking advantage of the chance to shred old papers, donate clean used clothing and dispose of electronics we can no longer put out with our regular garbage collection. I look forward to continuing to host these events in the future as they are making a difference for so many people and helping to care for our environment at the same time,” Golden stated.

The AARP, the Lower East Side Ecology Center and the Dept. of Sanitation provided assistance at the two events.

For more information on how to dispose of electronic trash, visit the Dept. of Sanitation website at: www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/zerowaste/residents/electronics.shtml.