Some important and helpful info about recycling and shredding

The Westchester MIRF is a great place to drop off recycling, or to shred documents

News & Town Board Reports (gblist)Posted on August 22, 2026

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The Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities operates the Household-Material Recovery Facility (H-MRF) at 15 Woods Rd., in Valhalla.

Many of the much older smoke detectors, and a small number of newer models, contain very small amounts of radioactive material. These ionization smoke detectors usually have a label on back or inside the battery compartment that says, "ionization", mentions "americium-241 (Am-241)", or "contains radioactive material". When these types of smoke detectors are delivered to the H-MRF, they are properly disposed of through DEF's hazardous household waste contractor. As for those smoke detectors that do not contain radioactive material – photoelectric smoke detectors, once the batteries are removed they can be disposed of in the trash.

This is an important link that could answer other questions you may have about recycling

https://environment.westchestercountyny.gov/facilities/h-mrf

PAUL FEINER

PS: The MIRF will shred your documents at no cost to you. And, usually there are no lines!