By SAMUEL MORTEL
Last weekend, the Lower East Side Ecology Center made a trip to 113-43 Farmers Blvd in St. Albans, right in front of the office of Senator Leroy Comrie, as the latest stop of the organization’s “E-Waste Reuse and Recycling Program.”
NYC.gov describes these events as a “convenient way for NYC residents to get rid of their e-waste.” The Ecology Center and the City try to pitch these events as not only beneficial to the environment but also to the residents themselves. Just by surveying the e-waste piled on this St. Albans sidewalk, you see how locals are using this as an opportunity to get rid of their unwanted electronics: three different Hasbro i-Dogs (robotic kids toy manufactured in 2005), clunky computer monitors, old fax machines and printers, landline phones, a Walkman cassette player, and many more outdated pieces of technology that were most likely wasting away in someone’s basement and would otherwise just end up in a landfill.
Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a major environmental issue. According to TheRoundUp.Org, there are over 347 Mt (million metric tons) of unrecycled e-waste on the planet, and with rapid changes in technology, change in media, and planned obsolescence, the problem seems to be getting worse and worse. These 347 Mt grow by an average of 2 Mt a year, and the U.S. is among the biggest culprits. Fortunately, there are organizations like the Lower East Side Ecology Center that fight to reduce e-waste and its impacts on the environment.
LES Ecology Center has been operating its anti-e-waste program since 2003, an effort that has diverted a total of 10.5 million pounds of unwanted electronics from landfill and incinerators. In this war against pollution, the center’s main battle tactic has been their “E-waste collection events.” Every week–sometimes multiple times a week)–the group sends its staff to different places around the city, setting up designated spots for locals to drop off their unwanted electronics. These electronics are collected in trucks and sent to a recycling center where they are evaluated for refurbishing and reuse or shredded and recycled.
This particular collection event was endorsed and publicized by a number of local elected officials: Council Member Nantasha Williams, Assembly Members Alicia Hyndman and Clyde Vanel, and of course Senator Comrie himself.
“Too often, we think of recycling as just for paper, plastic, and glass, but recycling e-waste is just as essential,” said Comrie. “The Lower East Side Ecology Center has been an outstanding partner in educating New Yorkers about the dangers of improperly disposing of electronic devices and providing accessible solutions for responsible recycling. It is vital that we show our community how these simple actions, like recycling an old computer, can contribute to a cleaner and much healthier city.”
Queens residents are the latest to receive this opportunity to get rid of their unwanted electronics, but they are far from the last. The LES Ecology Center has announced more e-waste collection events coming to Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights this weekend.