One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure By Alison Simon and Luke Simon
April 24, 2012 Saturday’s Zero Waste Day was a record breaking day
in terms of community participation and the amount of refuse and reusable materials collected. The biannual event, coordinated by North Castle’s Recycling Committee, attracted hundreds of people from North Castle and neighboring towns in a communal effort to properly dispose of household debris. The mission Committee’s mission “is to develop and promote innovative and effective recycling and waste management practices throughout the town.” northcastleny.com
Event Co Chairs Deborah Cerar and April Paresi and many Recycling Committee volunteers coordinated the collection of electronic waste, scrap metal, used motor oil, cooking oil and antifreeze, bulk trash, and bulk paper for shredding, as well as old bicycles, clothing and furniture for people and animals in need. Much of what was disposed can be reused and, most important, according to David Africk, a Recycling Committee member, “kept out of landfills.”
743 cars with residents wishing to dispose of their old junk drove though the loop behind North Castle’s Town Hall and were directed to the proper places to dispose of their goods. Volunteers worked diligently to keep the flow of cars moving from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.. Participants could not only rid their homes of unwanted junk in an environmentally responsible manner, they were also given the chance to help others in need and get a tax deductible receipt for their efforts.
The Suburban Carting Company, a private company contracted for waste removal by the Town of North Castle, collected five 30-yard-wide dumpster’s worth of bulk items and scrap metal. Diane Chickering, Suburban Carting’s Recycling Coordinator, said the scrap metal is sold by weight for reuse. This keeps the material out of landfills.
WeRecycle, a private electronic waste recycling company, collected 31 skids full of old computers, TVs and other electronics to be stripped down into separate parts for recycling. Laws such as New York State’s Electronic Equipment Reuse and Recycling Act are forcing manufacturers and retailers to be responsible for the waste generated by the electronics they sell. The financial cost of providing recycling options for these products will eventually force manufacturers to reduce the amount of waste generated by their products. www.werecycle.com
Zero Waste Day also provided residents with an opportunity to donate unwanted household items to organizations that will put the items to good use. The community Center of Northern Westchester collected 2,817 pounds of gently used clothing for people in need, www.communitycenternw.org, and The Furniture Sharehouse, Westchester’s Furniture Bank, collected used furniture. Chris Eifler, a member of Furniture Sharehouse’s Board of Directors, said that collecting the furniture “gets it out of the waste stream, gives people a taxable receipt, and gives furniture to people who need it.” Furniture Sharehouse works with 40 social services agencies in the county to provide furniture to those who need it. www.furnituresharehouse.org
Representatives from Adopt-A-Dog, www.adoptadog.org, collected several truck loads of old blankets, pet-carriers and toys for use by the dogs and cats rescued by their shelter on Cox Avenue, and said “Zero Waste Day is wonderful for the shelter because everything's done on donations.” And Recycle-A-Bicycle collected 60 old bikes to repair or rebuild at their repair shops and then redistribute at “bike bonanzas” throughout New York City, www.recycleabicycle.org.
Enviro Waste Oil Recovery and American Alternative Energy collected used motor oil and antifreeze to recycle, and collected used cooking oil to reuse as biodiesel, an alternative form of fuel used in cars and boilers, www.envirowasteoil.com. Finally, USA Shred was on site and collected over 8,000 pounds of paper to be shredded for reuse, www.usashred.info.
North Castle Recycles By Amanda Boyle
August 15, 2011 North Castle is taking measures to stay green with the recycling advice of Recyclopedia. Have you ever wavered between the recycling bin and the trash bin, not knowing which one to deposit your waste into? That's where Recyclopedia comes in available on the Town of North Castle's website: http://northcastleny.com/recyclopedia. Search an item and a page will come up instructing how to reuse, recycle or dispose of whatever you have.
Searching "glass" describes what to do for "Bottles, glass", "Eyeglasses", "Fiberglass insulation" and "Glass, windows" among others. You can also search by letter. Under "A" there is "Aerosol cans", "Air conditioners" and "Aluminum, cans", just to being with.
In the B category, there's how to recycle a Brita water filter http://northcastleny.com/recyclopedia/indiv_result.php?item=28. The Recyclopedia says that Brita water filters can be comingled with the recyclables, or they can be brought to Whole Foods, where there is a drop-off box designated for recycling Brita water filters. The Recyclopedia continues to explain that to be properly recycled, the filter must be dried for at least three days and then placed in a plastic grocery bag (the bag will be recycled as well). They even tell you that the nearest Whole Foods are in White Plains and Greenwich. And then, the Recyclopedia says that the water filter can also be mailed in, and gives the directions for that option.
The site is also easy to use on a smart phone; reached by searching "North Castle Recyclopedia" on Google.
The Recyclopedia is a new feature, so if you find something to be confusing or difficult about the site, or can't find an item, there's a button on the left column to "Share your tips and ideas with us."
E-Waste Recycling Updated February 21, 2012
As of January 1, 2012, New York State legislators have passed an Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse law banning waste haulers from collecting electronic waste. Suburban Carting will no longer pick up any electronics at curbside. "We will not pick up electronic waste," said Recycling Coordinator for Suburban Carting Diane Chickering. "Instead, we will leave a sticker on the e-waste and leave it at curbside."
Beginning March 3, 2012, town board liaison to the Recycling Committee, Councilman Diane Roth, said the Town of North Castle will have an electronic waste collection site located at the Town Hall complex near the Highway Department. A container will be available at the same location where the Zero Waste Days are held. There will be someone at the collection site on the frist Saturday of every month form 9a.m. to 1p.m.
The New York State legislation dictates that consumers and companies with fewer than 50 full-time employees may drop off computers, televisions, and small electronic equipment at the collection site at no cost. The following is a partial list of acceptable electronic equipment: computers, keyboards, mice or similar pinging devices, printers [restricted to those used with computers under 100 lbs.], televisions, VCRs, digital video records, DVD players, and video game consoles.
At the collection site electronic waste will be wrapped and temporarily stored. According to www.ny.gov.dec, industry experts report that recycling electronic waste protects humans and the environment by keeping toxins such as lead, mercury and cadmium from contaminating the air, water and soil.
From the collection site, the materials will be transported to an electronic waste consolidation facility that organizes and consolidates the e-waste before transporting it to a recycling facility. The recycling facility then dismantles the materials and prepares them for use in new products. E-waste does not include the case or shell of the covered electronic equipment from which the components or wiring circuitry have been removed.
"The cost to the town is $160 a month to pay a trained person to man the collection of the e-waste," said Roth.
The recycling facility will also accept light iron, metal, or steel. Scrap metal may also be dropped off at the same time and location as the e-waste. Now North Castle residents will have the option to make a difference by not placing metal items on the curbside which will end up in a landfill, says Chickering.
"The town makes money on the scrap metal, which will be picked up by a hauler. Scrap metal is paid for by weight. This should offset the minimal cost of running the recycling facility," explained Roth.
In December 2010, NYS Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act was signed into legislation. Rechargable batteries contain toxic metals when improperly disposed of can be released into the environment. Under the new law, retailers that sell rechargeable batteries are required to accept up to ten batteries per day, per person. Consumers are to not to dispose rechargable batteries in the trash. Common non-rechargeable, alkaline batteries can be disposed of in the garbage.
