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515 Edgecombe Avenue Cooperative

All res­i­dents of 515 Edge­combe avenue coop­er­a­tion are required by law to recy­cle their waste in accor­dance with New York City Guide­lines.

These guide­lines have been post­ed on the main notice board in the build­ing’s Lob­by. Appro­pri­ate recy­cling bins are avail­able in the des­ig­nat­ed area on the build­ing premis­es.

Every build­ing in New York City is required by law to recy­cle. The Sol­id Waste Man­age­ment Act of 1988 requires com­pre­hen­sive recy­cling in New York State. New York City ben­e­fits not only envi­ron­men­tal­ly, but also eco­nom­i­cal­ly from recy­cling. New York­ers must not lose the ben­e­fits of recy­cling by let­ting up on pru­dent waste man­age­ment prac­tices. Accord­ing to New York State Attor­ney Gen­er­al Elliot Spitzer, “Recy­cling is unques­tion­ably one of the most impor­tant efforts we make to con­serve nat­ur­al resources and reduce our depen­dence on land­fills and incin­er­a­tors — recy­cling makes enor­mous eco­nom­ic and envi­ron­men­tal sense and I am ful­ly com­mit­ted to expand­ing and enforc­ing recy­cling laws so that we can real­ize their full ben­e­fits.”

The infor­ma­tion below pro­vides guide­lines on what and how to recy­cle: For fur­ther infor­ma­tion please vis­it the New York City web­site.

What and How to Recy­cle:
PAPER & CARDBOARD

YES — PLACE IN RECYCLING

NO — PLACE IN TRASH

  • white, col­ored, and glossy paper (sta­ples OK; no spi­ral bind­ings)

  • mail and envelopes

  • wrap­ping paper (remove rib­bon and tape)

  • smooth card­board (food box­es — remove inside & out­side plas­tic wrap­pers — shoe box­es, tubes from paper tow­el and toi­let paper rolls, card­board from prod­uct pack­ag­ing)
  • paper bags
  • paper/cardboard egg car­tons and trays
  • news­pa­pers, mag­a­zines, and cat­a­logs
  • phone books, soft cov­er books (paper­backs, com­ic books, etc.)
  • cor­ru­gat­ed card­board (flat­tened box­es)

  • hard­cov­er books

  • nap­kins, paper tow­els, or tis­sues
  • soiled paper cups or plates
  • paper heav­i­ly soiled with food or liq­uid
  • paper with a lot of tape and glue
  • plas­tic- or wax-coat­ed paper (can­dy wrap­pers, take-out con­tain­ers, etc.)

Place mixed paper mate­ri­als togeth­er in a labeled bin (prefer­ably green), clear bag, or labeled dump­ster. Flat­ten and bun­dle large pieces of cor­ru­gat­ed card­board and tie with stur­dy twine, or place loose in your dump­ster.

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What and How to Recy­cle:
BEVERAGE CARTONS, BOTTLES, CANS, METAL & FOIL

YES — PLACE IN RECYCLING

NO — PLACE IN TRASH

  • met­al cans (such as tuna, emp­ty aerosol cans, emp­ty and dried-out paint cans with lids removed)

  • alu­minum foil wrap & trays
  • house­hold met­al (such as wire hang­ers, pots, and pans)
  • bulk met­al (such as met­al fur­ni­ture, cab­i­nets, and appli­ances)
  • glass bot­tles & jars
  • plas­tic bot­tles & jugs
  • bev­er­age car­tons & drink box­es (milk & juice)
  

  • any glass items oth­er than glass bot­tles & jars (such as mir­rors, light bulbs, ceram­ics, and glass­ware)

  • any plas­tic items oth­er than plas­tic bot­tles & jugs (such as deli and yogurt con­tain­ers; plas­tic toys, cups, bags, and wrap)
  • sty­ro­foam (cups, egg car­tons, trays, etc.)
  • bat­ter­ies 

Emp­ty and rinse con­tain­ers before recy­cling. Place togeth­er in CLEAR bags or blue labeled bin.

Place bulk met­al next to recy­cling bins or bags.

Call 311 before dis­card­ing appli­ances that con­tain CFC gas.

5¢ deposit: Bring deposit bot­tles and cans back to the store for refunds.

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What and How to Recy­cle:
BULKY TRASH

YES — PLACE WITH  RECYCLING

NO — PLACE WITH TRASH

Fur­ni­ture and appli­ances that are pre­dom­i­nant­ly met­al* and are too big for your recy­cling con­tain­er or clear bag — such as wash­ing machines, met­al fil­ing cab­i­nets, box springs, or water heaters — should be placed beside the con­tain­er on your reg­u­lar Recy­cling Day.

Non-recy­clable trash that is too big for your con­tain­er or bag — such as mat­tress­es, lum­ber, TVs, or debris from small con­struc­tion or gar­den projects — should be placed at the curb on your reg­u­lar garbage col­lec­tion day (except dur­ing weeks with hol­i­days or snow days). The Depart­ment of San­i­ta­tion will col­lect up to six bulk items from one address. For more infor­ma­tion, see bulk col­lec­tion on the DSNY web­site.

*Appli­ances with CFC Gas

Before dis­card­ing appli­ances con­tain­ing CFC gas, or fre­on — such as refrig­er­a­tors, freez­ers, air con­di­tion­ers, or dehu­mid­i­fiers — you must sched­ule an appoint­ment to place the item at the curb for CFC recov­ery. You can make an appoint­ment on the San­i­ta­tion web­site or call 311. For safe­ty rea­sons, the law requires doors to be removed from refrig­er­a­tors and freez­ers before plac­ing at the curb.

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Missed Col­lec­tions

To report missed col­lec­tions, call 311, or com­plete the Missed Col­lec­tion form on the San­i­ta­tion web­site.

Mul­ti-Unit and Apart­ment Build­ings

Res­i­den­tial build­ing owners/landlords must noti­fy ten­ants about recy­cling require­ments, des­ig­nate an acces­si­ble recy­cling area, and main­tain signs explain­ing what and how to recy­cle. The Depart­ment of San­i­ta­tion rec­om­mends that land­lords pro­vide new ten­ants with recy­cling infor­ma­tion with their lease, and remind ten­ants about their recy­cling respon­si­bil­i­ties with lease renewals.


All ten­ants are required to keep recy­clables sep­a­rate from reg­u­lar garbage and recy­cle accord­ing to their build­ing man­age­ment instruc­tions in prop­er­ly col­ored and labeled recep­ta­cles.


To report recy­cling vio­la­tions, call 311 or vis­it the appro­pri­ate pages on the San­i­ta­tion web­site: apart­ment owner/manager recy­cling vio­la­tions or apart­ment ten­ant recy­cling vio­la­tions.

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Recy­cling Vio­la­tions

Recy­cling vio­la­tions car­ry fines of $25 (first Notice), $50 (sec­ond Notice), $100 (third Notice), and $500 (four or more Notices with­in a six-month peri­od).

Build­ings with ten or more apart­ments that receive four or more Notices of Vio­la­tion with­in a six-month peri­od will be fined $500 for each bag that vio­lates recy­cling reg­u­la­tions, up to a max­i­mum of 20 bags with­in a 24-hour peri­od. This trans­lates to a max­i­mum fine of $10,000 per day.

APARTMENT BUILDINGS: Owners/Landlords
APARTMENT BUILDINGS: Ten­ants
What to do if you get a tick­et

APARTMENT BUILDINGS (3 or more units): Owners/Landlords

The fol­low­ing infrac­tions could result in a Notice of Vio­la­tion being issued against build­ing owners/landlords of mul­ti-unit build­ings:

  • Fail­ure to post signs with spe­cif­ic recy­cling instruc­tions for the build­ing.
  • Fail­ure to have and main­tain a ten­ant-acces­si­ble Recy­cling Area.
  • Fail­ure to remove garbage and non-recy­clables from des­ig­nat­ed recy­cling con­tain­ers.
  • Fail­ure to flat­ten and tie cor­ru­gat­ed card­board box­es (unless bro­ken down into small pieces and placed in a bag, con­tain­er, or dump­ster).
  • Fail­ure to tie news­pa­pers, mag­a­zines, cat­a­logs, and phone books into bun­dles no more than eigh­teen (18″) inch­es high (if not placed in a bag or con­tain­er).
  • Plac­ing mixed paper, news­pa­pers, mag­a­zines, cat­a­logs, and phone books in any bag oth­er than a 13–55 gal­lon clear plas­tic bag.
  • Plac­ing bev­er­age car­tons, bot­tles, cans, or foil in reg­u­lar garbage.
  • Using recy­cling con­tain­ers or blue recy­cling bags for reg­u­lar garbage.
  • Using an improp­er recy­cling con­tain­er or fail­ing to pro­vide appro­pri­ate con­tain­ers.

  • Plac­ing sep­a­rat­ed recy­clables out for col­lec­tion in reg­u­lar garbage con­tain­er

    s.

APARTMENT BUILDINGS (3 or more units): Ten­ants

The fol­low­ing infrac­tions could result in a Notice of Vio­la­tion for ten­ants of mul­ti-unit build­ings:

  • Fail­ure to sep­a­rate recy­clables from reg­u­lar

    garbage and place them in the prop­er con­tain­ers pro­vid­ed by build­ing man­age­ment.

  • Plac­ing reg­u­lar garbage in des­ig­nat­ed recy­cling con­tain­ers.

  • Fail­ure to rinse bev­er­age car­tons, bot­tles, cans, and foil c

    lean of food and residue.

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Bat­ter­ies, Auto Flu­ids, and Oth­er Spe­cial Waste

The NYC Depart­ment of San­i­ta­tion oper­ates Self Help Spe­cial Waste Drop-Off Sites in every bor­ough for the col­lec­tion and recy­cling of auto­mo­tive flu­ids, bat­ter­ies, flu­o­res­cent bulbs, mer­cury-filled ther­mostats and ther­mome­ters, paint, and tires.

Do not place these mate­ri­als in your recy­cling bin. Use the links below for waste pre­ven­tion tips and how to prop­er­ly dis­pose of these items:

bat­ter­ies: auto­mo­tive

bat­ter­ies: house­hold
flu­o­res­cent bulbs
motor oil
paint
tires

ALSO SEE reduc­ing tox­i­cs at home and recy­clers and ven­dors for less tox­ic alter­na­tives.

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Com­put­ers, Ton­er Car­tridges, and Oth­er Mate­ri­als

ALSO SEE elec­tron­ics recy­cling.

For items not list­ed here, try the “How do I dis­pose of…” fea­ture on the San­i­ta­tion web­site.

Go to recy­clers and ven­dors to find recy­clers for bulk quan­ti­ties of items NOT col­lect­ed for recy­cling by the NY Depart­ment of San­i­ta­tion, includ­ing ton­er car­tridges, cell phones, com­put­ers, and CDs.

Vis­it new homes for old stuff to find places to donate, sell, or buy sec­ond-hand goods.

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Recy­cling Sym­bol

Many res­i­dents are con­fused about what to recy­cle because so many prod­ucts dis­play the uni­ver­sal recy­cling sym­bol. How­ev­er, only items that have a viable resale mar­ket are accept­ed by New York City’s Recy­cling Pro­gram. While many oth­er items car­ry the recy­cling sym­bol and are in the­o­ry recy­clable, they do not nec­es­sar­i­ly have exten­sive resale mar­kets.

The only plas­tics accept­ed for recy­cling in New York City are bot­tles & jugs (with necks small­er than their bod­ies) that are stamped on the bot­tom with 1 & 2 codes. All oth­er plas­tic con­tain­ers and all oth­er plas­tic items should be placed in the reg­u­lar trash — even if they are labeled PETE or HDPE.

Refer to the lists above to decide what to put into recy­cling con­tain­ers. Do not place items in your recy­cling con­tain­ers just because the pack­age con­tains a recy­cling sym­bol or oth­er recy­cling infor­ma­tion. When in doubt, leave it out.

For more infor­ma­tion, see Can I recy­cle oth­er plas­tics besides #1 & #2 bot­tles & jugs? in FAQs.

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Help­ful Hints

  • Keep con­tain­ers for col­lect­ing mixed paper in your main work areas, such as where you sort your mail and dis­card kitchen items. Devise your own sys­tem to make it easy for you.
  • If you are con­cerned about the con­fi­den­tial­i­ty of your mail, remove address labels and tear up mail.
  • After shop­ping, remove and recy­cle paper pack­ag­ing.
  • Leave labels on cans and jars. Dis­card non­metal caps and lids; recy­cle all met­al.
  • Avoid pests and odors by rins­ing recy­clables before stor­ing them.
  • Save space by flat­ten­ing bev­er­age car­tons and plas­tic bot­tles (it won’t affect recy­cla­bil­i­ty).
  • Recy­cle alu­minum foil used for wrap­ping, not cook­ing (unless food and grease wash­es off eas­i­ly).

For addi­tion­al links on recy­cling, go to recy­cling resources