Greenburgh needs a recycling drop off center like Scarsdale has

Greenburgh needs a recycling drop off center like Scarsdale--the DPW Commission is receptive to the idea of having one at our DPW facility .
Yesterday, the Greenburgh Public Works Department made lots of residents happy by opening up their highway dept facilities to residents to drop off bulk items for recycling. When I stopped off at the event I was impressed with how organized the recycling day was and how helpful all our DPW employees are to residents. We have had similar recycling days in recent years at our DPW facility.

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The success of this day highlights the need to do what the Village of Scarsdale has done by making recycling convenient during the week.

Scarsdale operates their recycling center at 110 Secor Road. Residents can bring many materials that are difficult or impossible to put at the curb. The Scarsdale model is sensible because residents don't have to wait for a particular collection day to dispose of recyclable materials properly. Scarsdale also accepts items through separate streams including books, cooking oil, corks, electronics, eyeglasses, paint, plastic bags and film, scrap metal, textiles, organic food waste and more.

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Scarsdale also encourages reuse – not just recycling. They have a take it or leave it program that allows usable household goods to be diverted from the waste stream and made available for reuse.
When government provides a convenient place to bring unusual items there is a better chance it will be recycled.

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Scarsdale even has added programs such as plastic film recycling rather than treating recycling as simple bottles, cans and paper.

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On Thursday I spoke with Commissioner of Public Works Frank Morabito about establishing our own Greenburgh Recycling and Reuse Center at our DPW garage location on Old Sprain Road off of Ridge Road.. He was very receptive to the proposal and when I saw him at the recycling day yesterday – he already identified a location at our DPW facility! This would be a great initiative for the town to implement—and will be very popular with residents.

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There are other benefits: The county of Westchester charges for disposal of waste by the ton but the county does not charge for recyclable materials. Reducing the amount of waste will reduce our disposal charges.

Two links are below:

scarsdale.gov/895/Paint-Recycling

scarsdale10583.com/section-table/29-around-town/7304-take-it-or-leave-it-at-the-recycling-center

PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor