The Green Apple

Full Circle, Part 5: WeRecycle!

This is the fifth entry in "Full Circle," a series that will be profiling companies and organizations that offer biodegradable and recyclable products or services -- both in the New York City area and beyond.

Pieces of gold shine through a sea of motherboards gathered as the result of several computers being run through a "shredder" at a WeRecycle! facility. The gold will later be collected and smelted to be used in other products. Photo courtesy of WeRecycle!.

So you have an old laptop that has essentially become a giant paperweight as you’ve moved onto a sleeker model. Such a device contains a.) many components that are hazardous to the environment (batteries, mercury lamps, etc.) and b.) personal information that could be revealed if in the wrong hands. So what do you do with it?

Well, one option is to visit the website of WeRecycle!, a company based out of Mount Vernon, N.Y., that specializes in e-waste disposal both at the private business and residential levels. The company’s site contains an area where a visitor can type in his or her zip code and find out about nearby collection events and locations. For example, those interested can drop off that old laptop at any New York City Goodwill store as part of an arrangement that WeRecycle! set up -- and take comfort in knowing that their data is being disposed off in a safe and secure manner.

Full Circle, Part 4: NLR

This is the fourth entry in "Full Circle," a series that will be profiling companies and organizations that offer biodegradable and recyclable products or services -- both in the New York City area and beyond.

This machine at the NLR plant in Connecticut, which has been in use for about one-and-a-half years, can recycle about 5,000 lamps an hour. Photo courtesy of NLR.

For whatever reason, the light bulb will not go off in the collective conscience of most American businesses when it comes to complying with the Universal Waste Rule.  

Even though the rule has been a part of a federal regulation of the Environment Protection Agency since 1990, Raymond Graczyk said that only about 30 percent of private businesses properly handle the removal of universal waste such as mercury-containing light bulbs, batteries and ballasts -- even though the numerous toxic effects of mercury poisoning has been well documented for years and years. Those effects include damage to the brain, kidney and lungs.

“What happens with mercury is that it accumulates in the environment, so when you’re getting hundreds and hundreds and millions of lamps being thrown out a year that  mercury is released to the environment and then it finds its way back into the food chain, especially in fish,” said Graczyk, who is the co-founder and president of NLR, a company based north of Hartford, Conn., that specializes in lamp and universal recycling services for mainly commercial businesses. “[Awareness] is increasing some but it’s not as rapidly as it should be. It’s hard to say and necessarily come up with a reason why… Whether people aren’t properly informed. Whether they don’t care. I don’t know. Maybe they don’t realize how really available and easy it is to recycle.”