NERC in the News
Please Recycle Obsolete Items
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The Oneida (New York) Daily Dispatch; December 29, 2010
By Athena Lee Bradley, Projects Manager, Northeast Recycling Council, Inc.
This holiday season, remember to reduce, reuse and recycle.
New York’s Recycling Markets Database can help. The free. on-line database offers lists of reuse and recycling organizations that take everything from holiday lights to Christmas trees to electronics and other consumer goods, to ensure that they do not end up in a landfill when you’re done with them. What people don’t often realize is that recycling and reuse also help the regional and state economy by adding value to materials formerly disposed, and by creating and sustaining jobs.
So, as you receive gifts this season, consider donating usable and unwanted items for reuse or resale. The Markets Database includes contact information for more than 270 reuse businesses, organizations, and exchanges looking for a wide variety of things, like building supplies, clothing, books, and electronic devices. Listings include organizations that accept donations, as well as local and web-based companies that buy, sell, or trade.
Businesses will find the Markets Database a valuable tool for year-end inventory cleanouts and overruns, or to get rid of hard-to-recycle items. They will be able to identify recyclers on the database that offer multi-material recycling or salvaging services. Companies can also find materials exchanges that allow them to list items available. Such exchanges typically offer free postings to businesses offering nonhazardous items.
With new and improved technologies being introduced daily, electronic devices remain trendy holiday gifts. Keep in mind that the old cell phones, iPods, computers, televisions and other devices you are replacing contain valuable resources that can be used to make new products. Electronic components also contain toxic materials that need to be kept out of landfills. The NY Recycling Markets Database has more than 300 electronics recycling companies listed, and businesses can use it to locate the most cost-effective recycling and asset management services in their area. In New York, recycling of unwanted electronics is mandatory.
Of course, holiday wrappings and boxes are recyclable as well. For residents, the database has a comprehensive list of municipal recycling programs, as well as private recycling drop-off centers. Commercial establishments can find a complete list of paper and multi-material recycling facilities and brokers on the Database.
New York’s Recycling Markets Database is free and easy to use. You can search by material, within a particular area code or county, or within an entire state. The Database is supported by New York Empire State Development’s Environmental Services Unit and housed on the agency’s website, www.empire.state.ny.us/recycle. Information and listings are compiled and maintained by the Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. (NERC).
For more information or to be listed, contact Athena Lee Bradley, NERC’s Projects Manager, at 802-254-3636 or by email at athena@nerc.org.
Where to recycle:
Oneida County: Household Hazardous Waste Management Facility at 80 Leland Ave. in Utica is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information call, 733-1224 or visit www.ohswa.org
Madison County: The Madison County Landfill at 6663 Buyea Road in Lincoln is open Tuesday through Saturday, 7:10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information call, 361-8408 or visit www.madisoncounty.org/solid_waste.php
