If this free Eco Letter was forwarded to you and you'd like to be included in our mailing list, click here.

Just as the Earth now rests and prepares for a season of renewal and growth, we slow down and reflect on where we've been during a sometimes challenging year and celebrate new opportunities that come with the increasing light.

To all our subscribers, our best wishes for a new year of peace, health and hope.

The free UWSR Eco Letter comes from Upper West Side Recycling six times a year. Each Eco Letter lists events taking place during the following two or three months and also includes a Commentary on an environmental topic relevant to the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We urge you to distribute this important information to appropriate people in your network and refer them to our website (www.uwsr.org).

Make sure to open and save a copy of our Hard-to-Recycle List for more information on how to recycle a wide variety of items, as well as our list of Environmental Organizations.

Please email us at info@uwsr.org with any information you may have about upcoming environmental events for our consideration.

If this free Eco Letter was forwarded to you and you'd like to be included in our mailing list, click here.

We were really pleased when the West Side Rag reached out to do an article on us and Upper West Side Recycling's 50th year. If you missed the piece or aren't a subscriber to the Rag, you can read it here.

Staples accepts used toner cartridges. Upper Manhattan locations include:

2248 Broadway (81st Street), 212-712-9617; 1280 Lexington Avenue (86th Street), 212-426-6190; 105 West 125th Street, 212- 864-5747. They also recycle many other electronic devices; see here for more information.

Recycle malfunctioning/non-working holiday lights at Christmas Light Source's Recycling Program, 4313 Elmwood Drive, Benbrook, TX 76116. The program is active year-round, and you can opt for new LED lights as well.

Textile recycling is currently available on Sundays at the West 77th Street (between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West) and 116th Street and Broadway GrowNYC Greenmarkets. See GrowNYC for more information.

TerraCycle, 121 York Avenue, Trenton NJ 08638, 609-393-4259, develops recycling solutions for waste that is hard to recycle (such as toothbrushes, plastic cutlery, wrappers, disposable gloves). After they process the waste into raw material, it’s sold to manufacturing companies that produce new end products. To use their service, select a Zero Waste Box, fill it with material and send it back to them.

Duane Reade/Walgreens and CVS Pharmacies have large containers for the safe disposal of prescription and OTC medications (pills, capsules, salves, etc.) They do not accept sharps.

-- Building Materials & Household Furnishings:

Big Reuse is a non-profit retail outlet for salvaged or surplus building materials (no sheetrock), lighting and appliances. A drop-off center is located at 1 12th Street, Brooklyn; 718-725-8925; brooklyn@bigreuse.org. Pickup and deconstruction services are available for large quantities.

Cardella Waste, 2400 Tonnelle Avenue, North Bergen, NJ, (212) 594-7713, recycles NYC construction waste. You can rent and pick up dumpsters of various sizes. They recycle clean scrap sheetrock (gypsum wallboard) with US Gypsum in Denver PA, where the paper is stripped off and recycled, and the gypsum core is reused as additive to concrete, plaster, and stucco or as soil amendment. Click here for more information on sheetrock recycling.

Cooper Recycling, 123 Varick Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11237, 718-384-7727, is the largest construction and demolition debris recycling facility in NYC. They recycle clean scrap sheetrock with US Gypsum in Denver, PA.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore, 62-01 Northern Boulevard, Woodside, NY 11377, restore@habitatnyc.org, accepts furniture, flooring, appliances, tools, plumbing, lighting and electrical goods. They will pick up materials.

-- DSNY Special Waste Drop-Off Sites:

You can use the following DSNY safe disposal drop-off sites every Saturday and the last Friday of every month. Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Locations are:

• Bronx: Hunts Point at Farragut Street and the East River, next to the Fulton Fish Market. Enter on Farragut Street, off Food Center Drive.

• Manhattan: 74 Pike Slip, between Cherry Street and South Street under the Manhattan Bridge.

For more information on harmful products, click here or call 311. 

In addition to electronics, goods accepted at both scheduled events and drop-off sites include solvents, automotive flammables, pharmaceuticals and sharps, and ionization-type smoke detectors.

DSNY also holds Spring and Fall SAFE Disposal Events. Check back here in the Spring for a listing of the next one in Manhattan.

Missed Garbage or Recycling Pickups - You can report that your trash or recycling was not picked up starting at 8:00 a.m. the day after your collection day. Note that you cannot report missed collection if:

If you placed your items out correctly, but they have not been collected, please leave them on the curb until they are picked up. The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will collect your items within 5 days after receiving your report. For more information, including a list of City holidays, see here.

-- Legislation:

Skip the Stuff Bill (NYC Int. 0559) restricts the use of eating utensils and extra eating containers (still in Consumer & Worker Protection Committee).

A 9279-A would establish a carpet collection program (signed by the Governor).

Tobacco Product Waste Reduction Act (S1278, A4308) prohibits the sale or offering for sale of cigarettes utilizing single-use filters and single-use electronic cigarettes (still in Health Committees).

Food-Scrap Composting is now available at most GrowNYC Greenmarkets. See GrowNYC's webpage for more information.

NYC Int 0244-2022 would mandate universal residential composting by the end of 2023 for nearly every building in New York City (in Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management).

"The quest to expand composting in New York City" appeared in the Washington Post, August 1, 2022.

Goddard Riverside Green Keepers (61 West 87th Street, 646-505-1088 ext. 2601) offers paid on-the-job training in horticulture and street sanitation while providing beautification services to local associations, developers and private individuals.

New York City Tree Map (interactive). For the first time, you can access information about all the trees in New York City individually managed by NYC Parks, from those lining streets to the ones growing in landscaped areas of our parks. The map currently includes 536 species (London Plane is the most common) and 862,660 trees in all. Trees not managed by NYC Parks aren’t mapped.

The Central Park Conservancy, the Yale School of the Environment, and the Natural Areas Conservancy have created the Central Park Climate Lab, which will offer research and new tools to help urban parks deal with the effects of climate change. Information is available from the Central Park Conservancy, 212-310-6600.

What New Yorkers Can Do: Mitigation, Adaptation, and Resilience (re climate change). See the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation for more information.

Environmental Bond Act, Title 7 (mitigation of climate change) is part of the bond act New Yorkers voted to pass in November 2022; it includes up to $1.5 billion for green infrastructure and renewable energy projects to fight climate change

A 7389-C establishes a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining operations (which are very energy intensive) that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions and provides that such operations shall be subject to a full generic environmental impact statement review (signed by the Governor).

In November 2022, New Yorkers voted to pass the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022. This Environmental Bond Act will fund more than $1 billion for flood reduction, fixing dams and culverts for aquatic life; $650 million for wastewater and storm water upgrades; $650 million to preserve parks, open space and farmland; and up to $1.5 billion for green infrastructure and renewable energy projects to fight climate change.

A 7429-A, The Birds and Bees Protection Act, prohibits the sale of certain pesticides (such as neonicotinoids) or use of seeds coated with such pesticides (passed the NY State Assembly).

A 2103-D would regulate equitable siting of environmental facilities and require environmental impact statements to state whether the siting of a facility will cause or increase a disproportionate burden on disadvantaged communities (passed the NY State Assembly & Senate).

Green Girls is a City Parks Foundation program that teaches early adolescent girls to understand natural ecosystems and learn about future careers in the sciences.

Sometimes we're notified of events after we send you the current bi-monthly issue. Be sure to check here on our website to see any updates.

(See also our Hard-to-Recycle List)

Lower East Side Ecology; 212-477-4022.  Hosts E-Waste recycling events during the year throughout Manhattan. Events occur as scheduled, rain or shine.  

Accepted (unless otherwise noted): Computers and peripherals (monitors, printers, faxes/scanners, keyboards, mice, wires, etc.); TVs; stereo and A/V equipment, VCRs, DVD players; cell and wall phones.

Not Accepted: Microwaves, small appliances, refrigerators, air conditioners, smoke or carbon monoxide detectors. If you're not sure about a given item, check with Lower East Side Ecology before you bring it (212-477-4022).

Ongoing: Functioning cell phones and chargers can be donated to the Office of Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, 245 West 104th Street. Info: 212.866.3970.

(See also our Hard-to-Recycle List)

Wearable Collections will pick up from your building (for more details see our Hard-to-Recycle List).

Accepted by Wearable Collections: Clean textiles, including clothing and shoes, handbags, blankets, sheets, curtains, towels, etc.

Not Accepted: Scraps, pillows, comforters, luggage or carpeting.

Collection of textiles at some sites as been temporarily suspended. Check the Grow NYC website for current status.

77th/79th Street Greenmarket [79th & Columbus Avenue], 9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Sundays; Columbia University Greenmarket [Broadway between 115th-116th Streets], 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Thursdays and Sundays

Check the Grow NYC website for an up-to-date list of locations and hours for locations to recycle textiles. For information: Grow NYC, (212) 788-7964. Events occur as scheduled, rain or shine.

The Morningside Park Down-to-Earth Farmers Market (110th & Manhattan Avenue), accepts textiles from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., Saturdays. Info: Down to Earth.

Also, United War Veterans Council, Salvation Army, and Goodwill will pick up from residential buildings. So will re-fashion NYC (new enrollments are on hold, but you may now submit an application). See the Textiles Section of our Hard-to-Recycle List for more specific information.

Other Recycling/Solid Waste 

(See also our Hard-to-Recycle List)

Year-round Greenmarkets and scrap drop-off locations in Upper Manhattan that accept food waste include locations at: Tucker Square Greenmarket [66^th Street and Columbus Avenue]; 79^th Street Greenmarket [77^th Street betw. Columbus Avenue and Central Park West]; 97^th Street Greenmarket [West 97^th & Amsterdam Avenue]; Columbia University Greenmarket [West 116^th Street and Broadway]; St. Mary's Harlem Food Scrap Drop-off, 521 West 126th Street; 181st Street and Fort Washington Avenue; Inwood Greenmarket, Isham Street and Seaman Avenue (north corner). (See Grow NYC for status and hours or our Hard-to-Recycle List for more information and other locations).

If this free Eco Letter was forwarded to you and you'd like to be included in our mailing list, click here.

Contact: info@uwsr.org    Web site:  www.uwsr.org