NYC’s recycling bin mascots look trashy. Get it?! (Source: justinwpaxton.wordpress.com)
The city wants you to know that there are some commonly used household and automotive products that can be harmful to you, your family, city workers, and the environment if improperly stored, used, or discarded, so the New York City Department of Sanitation is holding a SAFE Disposal Event on April 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (rain or shine).
The event, which will be taking place in all five boroughs, will provide city residents with a one-stop method to get rid of potentially harmful household products. The only one in Brooklyn will be held inside Prospect Park at Park Circle, corner of Parkside Avenue and Prospect Park Southwest (cars approach from Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Road).
Only New York City residential waste will be accepted at this NYC SAFE events (no business or institutional waste permitted). No commercial vehicles will be allowed and residents must provide proof of NYC residency. For safety reasons, attendees are not permitted to unload their vehicles outside of the event area. Also, due to the popularity of this event, there may be extended wait times.
The blue and green recycling bin mascots will make appearances at all the SAFE disposal events. If you cannot attend any of the events, learn more about these harmful household products.
To learn more — and there is a lot to learn — about this event, click here.
Source: Andre R. Aragon / FEMA.gov
Good news for those still clearing out their homes from the monumental wreckage wrought by Superstorm Sandy — the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will remove the special storm debris from areas hit hardest by Sandy through and including Monday, March 18, 2013.
Sanitation crews have collected more than 415,000 tons of bulky storm debris as part of these extra pickups in southern Brooklyn, southern Queens and Staten Island. The pickups occur on the day preceding each of their regularly scheduled refuse collection days.
The DSNY advises that while the department has been removing non-commercial waste from homeowners engaged in small projects, “homeowners who are undertaking large demolition and reconstruction projects must arrange for their own dumpster by contacting a private rubbish removal service.”
From a press release the DSNY sent out:
Small quantities of construction and demolition debris resulting from work done by homeowners will continue to be picked up by the DSNY on regularly scheduled refuse collection days provided it is properly bundled. Wood may not be more than four feet in length and must be tied up securely. DSNY crews will pick up a maximum of ten bulky items per home.
Bulk and construction debris generated by hired contractors or fee-for-service personnel on home repair or renovation projects is considered commercial waste and it is the responsibility of the contractor to arrange for appropriate private disposal.
For more on DSNY refuse collection, call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/sanitation.
If you put clothing into it, that clothing will not go to the homeless. It probably will just end up in a landfill.
About a month ago this bin appeared on Brighton Beach Avenue near Brighton 14 Street. It is adorned with a wide variety of stickers from charitable organizations, but nowhere does it state who is responsible for the bin and to whom the donated clothing will go. The contents of many of these bins are sold for profit at thrift stores rather than being donated to charitable causes.
The bin probably also was put there without the knowledge or consent of the property owner. It is my guess that he notified 311 or the Department of Sanitation (DOS) requesting its removal since it is in violation of City law. A DOS sticker on the side facing the street states so.
It also states that the bin will be removed by Sanitation by April 4 if the owner does not remove it before then. Most likely the bin will be sold for scrap and the contents discarded.
Update (1:49 p.m.): This photo was taken earlier this week. We were just notified that the box has been removed as a result of complaints to 311. Hooray, city services!
Alternate Side Parking regulations are suspended citywide today, Friday, March 8, 2013, to facilitate snow removal. Meters and all other parking regulations remain in effect.
GARBAGE GAZETTE: I’m sorry, but people are dopes. I certainly don’t understand the point of these little garbage can prisons, but I also don’t understand why anyone, upon seeing one without a garbage can in it, would think it’s a fine place to put your garbage.
Maybe it’s the latest fad: a little zoo where we can stand outside the garbage beast’s cage and point and gawk and take photos (I did) and then move on to the three-toed sloth’s cage or something. I don’t know.
Let’s make some new rules, folks.
- One, don’t throw your trash on the ground.
- Two, if a garbage can is already full, don’t throw your trash in it. No, that little cellophane wrapper that has negative weight is not somehow going to stay delicately balanced on the can until the Sanitation Department comes to empty it, so stop trying and put it in your pocket.
- Just because there is a garbage can prison (sans can), an empty newspaper bin, an unguarded decorative planter, or similar vessel on a sidewalk, it does not mean you have free license to toss trash in it. If you do, you’re just a freakin’ animal and deserve to be put in your own little garbage can prison zoo.
With spring break for many schools just weeks away, community organizers throughout Sandy-affected neighborhoods are preparing for a flood of student volunteers to bolster recovery efforts across the region – and they’re warning the Sanitation Department to be ready.
“It’s pretty much a consensus that the boom time for volunteers is spring break, because [students] organize through their churches, or their sororities or fraternities,” said Laura McKenna, acting executive director of Bay Improvement Group, who is involved in the Brooklyn Long-Term Recovery Group, a coalition of organizations working on Sandy recovery. “Students are brought in to do this work wherever a disaster may be, and right now that’s here. They’re going to come in from all over the place to Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Jersey and they’re going to be helping, and we need to be ready.”
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Source: BrokenSphere via WIkimedia Commons
Styrofoam is perhaps one of the most space-aged products mankind has ever invented. But, though the stuff is soft, lightweight and relatively durable, its also a dangerous environmental hazard. Because of this, the Sanitation Department is looking for a city-wide ban on the product, according to a report by DNA Info.
The legislation being proposed would place the focus of the ban on businesses and not consumers.
“This would not be something that the consumer would have to deal with,” said deputy commissioner for recycling and sustainability Ron Gonen, “From a pure dollars-and-cents standpoint, it costs us money to dispose of Styrofoam in a landfill. It’s also unhealthy for the environment. It doesn’t break down properly.”
Instead, the ban would fine or heavily tax businesses that continue to order and distribute Styrofoam in large quantities, forcing them to find more environmentally favorable alternatives.
“We’re either going to ban your product or packaging, or make you pay to have it sent to a landfill,” Gonen said.
Councilman Lew Fidler, who had expressed support for a ban in the past, reaffirmed his support for the new ban proposal.
“I would love to move this bill forward, as it would be a help to both our environment and to our businesses through tax incentives,” Fidler said in a released statement.
Photo courtesy of Albert Dashevky
As we all know, New York City is a huge sprawling megalopolis populated by millions of people with a seemingly infinite amount of streets. These realities make it convenient for many dog owners to not care about cleaning up after their dogs. Well, you should clean up after your dog and not just because it keeps your neighborhoods clean, but because the piles of unattended dog feces creates an unfair obstacle course for those in wheelchairs trying to navigate our streets.
Remember, a lot of wheelchair users still propel their wheels forward with their hands, so if they roll over dog doodie, it becomes a horrible situation for someone just trying to get around town. You can use your imagination.
State Senator Marty Golden, after receiving letters from families of handicapped constituents dealing with this problem, has vowed to take action, according to a press release.
“Those who do not clean up after their dogs destroy the quality of life for all residents, and this letter highlights the impact that it has on our disabled neighbors,” Golden said. “I do hope that these concerns raised in this letter will not be ignored. The next time you are out walking your dog, stop and think for a moment, and pick up after your dog.”
Golden has petitioned the Department of Sanitation to place more signs that remind owners to pick up after their dogs.
The headline here is a tweak of two suggestions that came to us on Facebook, thanks to readers Ben Jonjak and Hillary Stackpole.
Courtesy of Lisanne Anderson
Last week we reported on a letter Councilman Domenic Recchia submitted to the New York City Department of Sanitation, urging them to extend their January 14 deadline for Sandy related bulk-pickup. Well, his pleas have been answered as the DSNY announced that they are extending their special storm debris collection deadline until Monday, February 18.
The call to extend the deadline was considered vital because many homeowners devastated by Superstorm Sandy needed more time to wait for the payments from FEMA and insurance agencies before they could begin the process of cleaning up and gutting out their damaged homes.
While the extension of the deadline is welcome, its worth noting that the Sanitation Department couldn’t push the date past February 18 because of resources needed in case of snow-related emergencies.
For additional information on DSNY refuse collection, you can call 311 or visit www.nyc.com/sanitation.
Courtesy of Lisanne Anderson
Councilman Domenic Recchia of Coney Island, Gravesend and Bensonhurst sent a letter to the New York City Department of Sanitation pleading with them to extend the January 14 deadline for Sandy-related bulk pickup services.
The increased sanitation service has been vital for small business owners and residents who are experiencing prolonged clean-ups and rebuilding efforts in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Sanitation has already extended the deadline once, having previously planned to terminate service on December 31.
In the letter, Recchia asked the Department of Sanitation to extend the increased services an extra three months.
“Over the past several weeks, I have met with many residents and small business owners in Brooklyn who have communicated to me the importance of additional sanitation pickups during this recovery phase,” Recchia wrote in the letter.
Recchia noted that delayed payments from FEMA, insurance companies and other governmental agencies have not allowed business owners and residents to begin the process of gutting out and cleaning up their properties. Assuming this money kicks in soon, and the sanitation deadline is not extended, the clean-up and rebuilding efforts for many people will be hampered and slowed.
Recchia concluded his letter praising the work of the Sanitation Department, describing their efforts as “herculean.”
