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New York's Electronic Waste Ban Begins In 2015

Wesley Fryer / flickr

New York state environmental officials are warning New Yorkers to beware of what they throw away in the new year. As WAMC’s Southern Adirondack Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports, a new ban on electronic waste is now in effect.

Don’t put your unwanted electronics in the trash! That’s the message being pushed now by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The final stage of the Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act, which banned electronic waste in landfills in 2011, now prohibits certain electronic items from being picked up curbside. Now, state residents must bring their old televisions, computers, VCRs, and other devices to a certified waste collection site for recycling.

According to Mark Moroukian of the DEC’s Bureau of Waste Reduction and Recycling, the law has already prevented more than 200 million pounds of e-waste from entering landfills, and stopped pollution from chemicals that can affect the air, water, and soil.

“We’re also conserving natural resources by allowing the materials to be reclaimed and reused rather than using virgin material. There’s a lot of precious metals and other things that are of value in electronic circuit boards and so-forth that are reclaimed are reused, so it’s not only diverting waste from landfills and incinerators, but it’s conserving natural resources,” said Moroukian.

Violators of the ban could be fined $100.

Bobbi Chase Wilding is Deputy Director of Clean & Healthy New York, an advocacy group that pushes for safer chemicals and fought for New York’s e-waste ban.

Wilding said while your old game console or computer equipment is harmless sitting on your shelf, once it enters the environment a variety of chemicals that can affect humans and wildlife can be released.

“Electronics are made with a lot of heavy metals inside, on the circuit board, but also flame retardant chemicals, plastics – all of which can leach over time. Heavy metals can play a host of problems in our bodies. Lead obviously is well known to affect our brain’s development, but also it can harm our hearts. It can harm a whole bunch of different organs in our bodies,” said Wilding.

According to the Electronics Recycling Coordination Clearinghouse, 24 states so far have passed some sort of e-waste legislation, including Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Under New York’s law, households and businesses are eligible for free electronic recycling.

DEC’s Moroukian said people can educate themselves on collection locations by visiting the department’s webpage, as well as lists of what types of electronics will be accepted. He also suggested calling ahead of time to confirm what and when a center can accept e-waste.

“Education is a key factor here. We’re trying to make every effort to make the residents of New York state familiar to the program, and we’re constantly trying to improve it and make it more convenient,” said Moroukian.

Wilding said as the program moves forward, Clean & Healthy New York would like to see the state keep up with the growing demand for electronic recycling among consumers.

“When we were working on the bill, manufactures complained that they wouldn’t be able to collect enough waste, and so there are specific amounts they are required to collect. It appears that demand may be higher, and New York state should respond and adjust the legislation to make sure we’re really running a robust program to capture all the waste that’s out there so that consumers have a place to dispose of their products safely,” said Wilding.

For more information visit: nyrecycles.org

Lucas Willard is a reporter and host at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, which he joined in 2011.
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