The pandemic put a pause on one electronics collection effort throughout New York City, but it is slowly returning in phases.
Starting in Staten Island next month, residents will again be able to make appointments for curbside e-scrap pick-up.
The New York City Department of Sanitation on Aug. 17 announced the collection program’s return. The service was previously scaled back in March 2020 and then “indefinitely suspended” in April 2020. The pause was part of an effort to save about $3.4 million in the 2021 fiscal year, which ran through June 30, 2021. At the time, city officials said the cuts would help free up resources for emergency services and other COVID-19 responses.
In this month’s release, city officials said they have restored some but not all of the funding for the program. It will restart only in Staten Island beginning Sept. 7.
“Our curbside e-waste collection program gives residents another easy way to dispose of those televisions or computers that are no longer wanted,” said Edward Grayson, the city’s sanitation commissioner. “And while we are happy that funding was partially restored to bring the program back to Staten Island residents, we are continuing to look at options to allow us to bring this popular program back to additional areas of the city in the future.”
Through the program, city workers collect devices on an appointment basis. The expansive list of covered devices includes non-CRT TVs, monitors, laptops, computer peripherals, fax machines, a variety of video playback devices, music players, gaming consoles and more.
Collected materials are transferred to e-scrap processor ERI.
