Free Electronics and Paper Shredding Event: September 24

The Township of Livingston will hold its second Electronics Recycling and Paper Shredding Event of 2016 on Saturday, September 24. The program offers residents a safe and free way to dispose of unwanted electronic items, whether they are working or not.

Livingston residents may take their electronics and confidential papers to the rear parking lot of the Senior /Community Center at 204 Hillside Avenue from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 24. Residents are reminded that the anticipated heavy volume of participants makes careful and attentive driving at the event site particularly important.

Volunteers will be stationed on site to guide residents to the correct location, depending upon the types of items to be recycled. We ask everyone to drive slowly through the parking lot. “Be sure to listen to the questions and directions of any volunteer wearing a safety vest,” said Renee Resky, Chairperson of the Livingston Recycling & Reclamation Committee. There is always the potential for traffic congestion during the Electronics Recycling and Paper Shredding event; however, Township employees and volunteers consistently work to make the process run as smoothly and safely as possible.

Under the Township’s recycling ordinance and New Jersey state law, it is mandatory to recycle electronic items. They cannot be placed at the curb for collection. “Livingston’s electronics recycling drives have been very successful and generate revenue for the Township from New Jersey’s Municipal Recycling Tonnage Grant Program,” stated Deputy Mayor Shawn Klein. “At the Township’s Electronics Recycling and Paper Shredding event in June, nearly 23 tons of electronics -- that’s a total of 80 tons so far this year -- were collected, and 7.8 tons of paper was shredded – that’s 22 tons for the year.”

This event is sponsored by the Township of Livingston; volunteers from the Recycling and Reclamation Committee, the Livingston Environmental Commission, and the Livingston High School National Science Honor Society will be on site to help out at the event. To volunteer at this event, contact Renee Resky at 973-992-5000 ext. #5405 or email rresky@livingstonnj.org.

Electronics Recycling

Items to be accepted for electronic and small appliance recycling include computers (residents should erase or remove hard drives if possible); monitors, flat screens, printers, copiers, fax machines, scanners, speakers, keyboards, laptops, USB and other cables, telephones, televisions, cellular telephones (again, memory should be erased if possible), VCRs, stereos, radios, DVD players, pagers, typewriters, electronic games, portable electronic music devices and PDAs, diskettes, CDs and DVDs, ZIP disks, audio and video tapes, inkjet, laser print and fax cartridges, microwave ovens, toasters, irons, vacuum cleaners, and rechargeable batteries.

Electronics recycling will be done by eRevival LLC. The company will provide personnel at the event to remove electronic items from each resident’s vehicle; residents are asked to remain inside their cars for safety reasons.

“Our company will collect most items with an electric plug,” said Fenil Shah of e-Revival LLC, “but some items such as exercise equipment, alkaline batteries, car batteries, light bulbs, smoke detectors, or other household hazardous materials cannot be recycled at this event.” Check the Township website to find out when and how these items can be recycled.

Vendor eRevival LLC also reminds residents that, for safety reasons, TV screens or monitors with broken glass or other sharp edges will not be accepted. Those items must be brought to Essex County’s Household Hazardous Waste Disposal day, on October 1; visit ecuanj.com for more information.

Paper Shredding

Personal paper documents will also be shredded on-site and recycled at Livingston’s 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. event on September 24. “There’s a limit of five boxes per household of papers to be shredded. Shredding is for Livingston residents only and home-based businesses or institutions are not eligible to use this service,” reminded Deputy Mayor Klein.

All types of confidential paper documents will be accepted for shredding, except for the following: hard cover books, three-ring binders, paper clips, CDs, computer disks, pendaflex-type folders and other fastened documents. Because the shredding trucks fill up quickly, Livingston residents are reminded to ensure that documents to be shredded are prepared properly in a container that can be easily dumped into the carts that get lifted into the shredding truck. “Papers should be removed from plastic binders, and only sensitive documents be submitted for shredding,” continued Resky.

In the past, residents have shredded books and newspapers that could have been recycled along with regular curbside paper collection, rather than taking valuable space in the shredding truck. “We only have so much space in the shredding truck,” said Klein, “If you have a book with your name or some other identifying information that you’d rather have shredded, you can just remove just the pages with the sensitive information – shred those few pages, and recycle the rest at home with your curbside paper recycling during the week.” Residents who want to watch as their papers are shredded must park their cars in the spaces to the right, just beyond the shredding truck; this will allow traffic to continue to flow steadily.

Early Drop Off:

“Residents who have electronics to recycle but are unable to attend the Saturday, September 24, event may take advantage of the “early drop off” offered by the Recycling & Reclamation Committee,” said Resky. Those residents may bring their electronics to be recycled to the lower level of the Senior/Community Center on Thursday, September 22, from 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.; and on Friday, September 23, from 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. There will be a cart in the lower lobby of the building that residents may use, if desired, to bring their electronics to the designated Craft Room, which will be listed on the sign board in the lower lobby.

“We want to remind all residents that the ‘early drop off’ is only for electronics – there is no early drop off for paper shredding,” stated Deputy Mayor Klein.

For more information, call the Livingston Township Clerk’s office at 973-992-5000, ext. #5405, or visit www.livingstonnj.org.