Montclair has operated a successful and popular Computer and Electronics
Recycling Program since 2001, when we began diverting any e-waste with a
town-wide drop-off event at the Public Works Yard. Until 2008, we hosted the
event twice a year, every year, with participation and tonnage growing annually.
Last year we expanded the service to become a permanent year-round
operation, enabling residents to drop-off any consumer electronics at our
Recycling Center Drop-off Depot in the Public Works Yard on every Saturday.
This service is publicized in our "Handy Guide to Recycling" brochure, listed on
our Township website (www.montclairnjusa.org), and printed in The Montclair
Times weekly. Attached are 1) a document describing the program; 2) a
document reporting on our vendor, disposal, and the tonnage collected; and, 3) a
document of our promotion poster with a photo of the drop-off event. Due to
towns like Montclair shedding light for many years on the need for electronics
recycling, a new state law - The Electronic Waste Disposal Act - bans all
computers and TVs from disposal beginning after next year. A local ordinance
has not been necessary for our successful program, nor will it be moving forward.
However, Montclair chooses to preceed ahead of the state law, so we do have a
pending ordinance banning all e-waste disposal (broader than the state law); it's
attached after the program description to serve as a model.
File 1: Description:Electronics Recycling Descript
View File 1
File 1: Description:Vendor, Disposal, and Tonnage
View File 1
File 1: Description:Promotional Poster and Event P
View File 1
Year-Round Computer & Electronics Recycling Announced
September, 2008
By now most Montclair residents are aware of consumer electronics recycling,
and they understand why it is a hot recycling topic in this state and why the township has
hosted a Computer and Electronics Recycling Day event every spring and fall.
Simply put, all electronic equipment contains hazardous materials which we need
to keep out of our environment to protect human health; electronics also contain valuable
materials which we want to recycle and resell. Plus, we avoid the expensive disposal fees.
Additionally, by recycling used resources we save energy and reduce the CO2
emissions that contribute to climate change. For all these reasons we want to keep e-scrap
from being discarded as refuse and entering the waste stream.
Unplugged
The fifteen electronics collections that Montclair has run since 2001 have become
popular environmental community events. Besides the “green” benefits, we’ve diverted
about 300 tons of scrap from collection, hauling, and dumping at the Essex Incinerator –
picture 20 tractor-trailers in a row driving through town – saving Montclair over $25,000.
And perhaps just as importantly, we’ve lead the way to a broader understanding
across the entire state about the growing municipal problems of e-waste disposal. One by
one, towns, cities and counties around the tri-state region now host collections similar to
the drop-off events we started seven years ago.
Computer and electronics recycling is finally becoming standard practice in many
communities, and the 2006 N.J. Electronic Waste Recycling Act is establishing both a
state-wide system for “the safe and environmentally sound management of end-of-life
electronic devices and components”, as well as a total disposal ban starting in 2010.
Can You Take Me Back
The great news now is that all Montclair residents finally have an even more
convenient way to dispose of every bit of e-scrap. Instead of holding their gear for several
months until our twice-a-year events (or Essex County’s collections), residents may now
drop-off their computers and consumer electronic equipment all year round.
Beginning immediately, any old, obsolete, or unwanted e-waste can be
brought every Saturday to the Recycling Drop-off Center at the DCS Yard, 219 No.
Fullerton Avenue, during regular hours from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Residents may bring computer components, including laptops, monitors, central
processing units (CPUs), keyboards, mice, mainframes, and peripherals such as circuit
boards, disc drives, integrated circuits (ICs), modems, processors, tape drives, networking
equipment, and wires and cables. Plus, all TVs (no big-screens or consoles), cell phones
and telephone equipment, printers, copiers, fax machines, VCRs, CD or DVD players,
electronic video games, camcorders, stereo equipment and radios may be dropped off.
The new year-round drop-off program is a significant additional service, and will
enable us to dramatically reduce the volume of electronic equipment being discarded.
There’s no longer any excuse for putting a computer monitor or TV set at the
curb. Eventually there will be local ordinances restricting those two items from disposal.
Finding new ways of diverting waste from disposal, capturing valuable materials
and protecting health, while reducing energy use and saving money, are all components
of a waste prevention, reuse, recycling and composting program that is cost-effective,
energy-efficient, and smart.
–D–R–A–F–T–
Ordinance to Ban E-waste Disposal
Whereas, residential electronic waste (e-waste), such as computers, television sets, and other
consumer electronic equipment, is currently collected for recycling at the Public Works Yard
Drop-off Center, or otherwise collected curbside as solid waste by the Department of Community
Services and disposed of by incineration; and,
Whereas, the disposal of e-waste incurs taxpayer expense and the incineration of e-waste results
in the released of chemicals, including lead, mercury and cadmium, that are toxic, carcinogenic
and harmful to human health and the environment; and,
Whereas, the Department of Community Services has established a weekly e-waste recycling
drop-off service available to all Montclair residents which saves money for the Township and
ensures the proper disposal of e-waste; and,
Whereas, the State of New Jersey has enacted the Electronic Waste Disposal Act, which will
require recycling of television sets, computers and computer monitors and prohibit any person in
the state from knowingly disposing of these items as solid waste, effective January 1, 2010; and,
Whereas, the Montclair Environmental Commission has reviewed and approved a
recommendation to prohibit the disposal of e-waste as solid waste and require e-waste recycling,
Now, therefore, BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Township of Montclair, in the
County of Essex, that Section xxx of the Township Code, entitled “yyyy,” be and is hereby
amended to read as follows:
A. Purpose and intent. The Township of Montclair hereby finds that disposal of e-waste as solid
waste incurs unacceptable economic and environmental costs that can be mitigated by properly
recycling such items.
B. Definitions: acceptable e-waste includes: all computer components, including central
processing units (CPUs), circuit boards, disc drives, integrated circuits, keyboards, laptops,
mainframes, mice, modems, monitors, processors, tape drives, wire and cables; also, television
sets (TVs), cell phones, all telephone equipment, printers, copiers, VCR/CD/DVD players, radios,
stereo systems, camcorders, all electronic games, and any other consumer electronic equipment
containing a microchip, transistor, or vacuum tube.
(1) Television sets greater than or equal to xx inches will not be accepted for recycling by
the Department of Community Service.
C. Effective September 8, 2009, residential and municipal e-waste, as defined in B. will not be
accepted as curbside solid waste and must either be stored or appropriately recycled.
(1) Appropriate recycling requires either e-waste drop off to the Department of
Community Services Public Work Yard, 219 North Fullerton Avenue, during regular
operating hours for e-waste drop-off, or, recycling via the electronics manufacturer or at
the place of purchase.
D. Residents unable to transport e-waste to the Department of Community Service Public Work
Yard may arrange for curbside pick-up of such items by making an appointment with the
Department of Community Services and paying a fee established by the Department Director.
E. Enforcement. The foregoing shall be enforced by the Department of Code Enforcement, the
Police Department, and the Department of Community Services.
F. Fines. Any person who violates any provision of this ordinance by dumping e-waste in the
Township or concealing e-waste in solid waste shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a
fine of not less than $250 for a first offence, not less than $500.00 for a second offense, and not
less than $1000.00 for a third or subsequent offense.
Gray Russell, Environmental Coordinator, Township of Montclair
Department of Administration, Code Enforcement, and Environmental Affairs
205 Claremont Avenue, Montclair, N.J. 07042
Tel. #: (973) 509-5721; Fax #: (973) 509-9589; Email: grussell@montclairnjusa.org
Recycle Additional Materials: Submit information about the number of tons recycled.
Montclair’s Electronics Recycler: Disposal and Tonnage Report
Advanced Recovery, Inc. (www.ariind.com) located at 50 Grafton Avenue,
Newark 07104, and, 41 Mechanic Street, Port Jervis, NY 12771, is our e-waste recycler.
We’ve used them for eight (8) years. We made sure from the start that they didn’t
send computers and other equipment to developing nations for disassembly.
We were very sensitive to the issue of e-dumping, even back in 2001, because I
came to this position from INFORM, Inc. (www.informinc.org), who have lead the way
nationally in shedding light on this huge and still-growing international waste/toxics/
health/environmental/human rights issue.
After collection here, our e-waste is initially brought to their Newark plant for
“triage”; this means that any reusable items are segregated to be refurbished and resold.
They have a successful resale business in Newark, selling perfectly good used
components or complete computer systems for a low price; this is the highest and best
use for captured e-waste.
The remainder, which is the vast majority of the load, then continues to their
warehouse in Port Jervis, N.Y., where it is disassembled for scrap. The metals, including
frames, wiring, etc. are baled and sold to manufacturers, wherever the market is the
strongest. The same with the plastics.
The CRTs (cathode ray tubes) are shrink-wrapped on pallets and shipped to
Dlubak Glass in Upper Sandusky, Ohio (www.dlubak.com) – they’re the largest US
processor and recycler for Television and PC Monitor (CRT) tube glass. There the tubes
are broken down, centrifuged, the glass separated from the lead, and the materials are
then resold, usually to either solder or fiberglass manufacturers.
ARI assures us that metal or plastic material, and also some components, from
their scrap processing facility can often be sold, depending on current prices, to overseas
markets – since almost all of the electronic equipment manufacturers are not in this
country – but not the equipment itself, which is what is causing the disaster of primitive
disassembly in Third World countries.
ARI is also used by Essex County, as well as many other counties, cities, and
towns throughout the tri-state area. They are a reputable company running a responsible
business. They’re well aware of the disaster of e-scrap dumping and they appear to take
the matter very seriously.
Since 2001 we have captured and diverted from disposal around 400 tons of
consumer electronics. We continue to keep these tons of toxics out of the waste stream,
as we protect human health and the environment, put valuable resources back into the
marketplace, and save Montclair’s tax dollars from being wasted at the Essex Incinerator.
SPONSORED BY THE TOWNSHIP OF MONTCLAIR’S
DEPTS. OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS & COMMUNITY SERVICES,
with ADVANCED RECOVERY, Inc. (www.advancedrecovery.com)
Give Your Old
COMPUTER & TV
A Second Chance!
Do you have an unwanted computer, cell
phone, TV, VCR, or stereo lying around?
Now they can be recycled or reused!
Drop them off at Montclair’s
Early E a r t h D a y Event
“Computer & Electronics
R e c y c l i n g D a y”
Saturday, April 5th, 9am - 3pm
Public Works Yard, 219 No. Fullerton Ave.
Accepted items include: computers, monitors, keyboards, mice, printers, servers, laptops
and peripherals, mainframes, networking equipment, and computer wires. No appliances.
Also televisions (no big-screens or consoles), VCR/CD/DVD players, games, cell phones
and phone equipment, copiers, camcorders, stereos & radios may be dropped off for free.
For more information call: The Environmental Affairs Office: (973) 509-5721
The late Dith Pran, world-renowned N.Y. Times photographer, covering
Montclair’s Electronics Recycling Drop-off Collection, 2007.