This past Sunday, April 23rd, Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway) partnered with the Lower East Side Ecology Center at the Bayswater Jewish Center to host the second in a series of two e-waste recycling events, allowing residents to drop off their TVs, cellphones, PDAs, computers, keyboards and more without incurring fees from the Department of Sanitation or harming the environment. The first event was held at the Rockwood Jewish Center on Sunday, March 26th.

“Electronic waste is a major environmental hazard. Too many people just drop computer parts in the garbage,” said Pheffer Amato. “If e-waste isn’t processed the right way, it can poison sanitation workers and our water supply. That’s why events like these are so important, and why I wanted to host two right here in our community.” There was a very high amount of traffic at the two events, including residents who had heard of the drop-off in local newspapers, on e-mail listservs, and simply by walking by. The events collected thousands of pounds of TVs, computers and more.

“In a way, it’s a no-brainer,” said Pheffer Amato. “Almost everyone has old computers and phones to get rid of. But to get the kind of response we did made us feel like part of something big. The Lower East Side Ecology Center originally brought curbside recycling to New York City decades ago with events like this one, and now look at how much recycling output our City contributes. I definitely hope that by getting out into the community, local e-waste will become a City-wide project, to keep up with the times.”

Accepted items included working and non-working computers, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, cables, TVs, VCRs, DVD players, phones, audio/visual equipment, cellphones and PDAs. Pheffer Amato said she was “overwhelmed and humbled” by the participation of the community, and that she “[looks] forward to repeating this successful, important collaboration many times.”