FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 5, 2013
MEDIA CONTACTS: Collin Nash, Ryan Mulholland, & Sam Marksheid | (516) 869-7794
North Hempstead Encourages Residents to Recycle Live Christmas Trees and Unwanted Electronics This Holiday Season
North Hempstead, NY – Keeping in line with the Town of North Hempstead’s commitment to reducing, reusing, and recycling, Town Supervisor John Riordan and the Town Board are encouraging residents to recycle their live Christmas Trees and unwanted electronics this holiday season.
“Just as recycling benefits our environment and community, so does ‘Tree-Cycling’,” said Supervisor Riordan, noting that old trees are “turned into mulch for use in gardening and landscaping”. To dispose of Christmas trees, residents can leave them curbside on normal yard waste pick-up days.
Arguably, electronics rank among the most popular gift atop many people’s holiday wish list, adult and children alike, making old and unwanted electronic items more prevalent this time of year. Collected electronic waste is hauled off by the town’s EPA certified e-waste recycler, who disassembles the items, salvages the useable parts, separates out potentially damaging materials, and recycles the balance. Town officials also recommend that residents become misers this holiday season by switching to energy-saving Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights, which ultimately lowers electric bills.
“Recycling your electronic waste frees up valuable space while keeping heavy metals like lead, mercury and arsenic out of our landfills, ensuring that our drinking water remains clean and healthy,” said Supervisor Riordan.
Residents can dump energy-gulping Christmas lights, and other unwanted electronics, on Sundays from 7:30am to 3:30pm until the end of January, at North Hempstead’s residential drop-off site, located at 999 West Shore Road in Roslyn. E-waste can also be disposed of during the weekdays at North Hempstead’s Solid Waste Management Authority (SWMA), located at 802 West Shore Road in Port Washington, Monday through Friday, from 8:00am to 4:00pm, excluding holidays.
For more information on “Tree-Cycling”, please call 311 or visit www.northhempsteadny.gov.