By Andrew Mambo and Dana Kochnower
As New Yorkers with small apartments, we all know how hard it is to store unwanted stuff; we also know that recycling is better than throwing it away. After taking CERC’s Introduction to Environmental Policy course, we became aware of the New York State Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act, which prohibits consumers from disposing covered electronic equipment in landfills beginning January 2015. We visited the Lower East Side Ecology Center’s new permanent e-waste warehouse located in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The warehouse is open five-days-a-week for people to bring cell phones, printers, computers, televisions and a variety of other electronics that should not wind up in landfills.
Learn more about the LESEC’s e-waste warehouse.
Learn more about the NYS Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act.
Andrew Mambo and Dana Kochnower are enrolled in the certificate program at the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation.
This is a great thing you are doing. I live in a very large college town. We really need something like this. What kind of costs do you run into when running something like that?
We should never throw away cell phones. They are very toxic and people do it all the time.
Hi,
E-waste has gradually climbed to the the top of the priority list for the waste management think-tanks around the world. With our affinity to the gadgets increasing by the day, the volume of electronic waste occupying our offices and residence have also been spiraling.
Countries like China, India and Brazil which are emerging as the new economic blocks have virtually sidelined the menace of e-waste – barring a few recycling agencies involved. We need a global e-waste management standards to be integrated into the manufacturing-to-disposal cycle.
A recent snapshot of the Indian e-waste nightmare can be seen here:
http://www.greenarth.com/blog/e-waste-stashing-the-right-way
Vineet
Grid No. 91
It is great idea to run E-cycle point (or a few) in every aglomeration, but it would also be beneficial to run some in the rural areas where the people might find it difficult to deliver some e-waste to the next big city. I’m actually thinking about something mobile (a van or so) to come and go every few weeks.