Broadway Green Alliance Announces Spring E-Waste Collection Drive Set For June 1st

The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) is partnering with 4THBIN to sponsor an E-Waste Drive for the theatre industry on Wednesday, June 1 from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. in Duffy Square. The event is open to all shows, theatres, industry members, and fans.

The BGA has catalyzed significant sustainability reform on Broadway since 2008, including electronic-waste (e-waste) and textile recycling events twice a year in Times Square. These events give Broadway and the broader community an opportunity to recycle their most commonly used electronics, including computers, laptops, mixed e-waste, monitors and mixed batteries.

For shows, theatres, and industry members, the first hamper of e-waste is free with a suggested donation of $.50/pound after that for larger quantities to help offset the cost. Members of the public and fans are also welcomed to participate up to 100 pounds.

You may bring: computers, cameras, fax machines, CPU's, phones, laptops, printers, combo tv/computer, PDAs/pagers, and other data containing devices. For safety, we cannot accept any non-rechargeable batteries (single-use), light bulbs, appliances, air conditioning units, power tools, coffee machines, and medical devices.

E-waste is an asset no longer in use that uses or conducts electricity. Electronics typically contain toxic chemicals that affect nearly every system in the body. These chemicals include cadmium, lead, nickel, mercury, and chromium. While electronics are perfectly safe for everyday use, they become dangerous when smashed open (like on a garbage truck) or exposed to the elements (like in a landfill) where these toxic metals can end up leaching into soil and groundwater. It's been estimated that e-waste accounts for more than two-thirds or nearly 70% of toxic metals in American landfills.

The BGA proudly partners with 4THBIN, an e-Stewards 4.0 certified and secure e-recycling solution provider, on the responsible recycling and disposal of these items.a?? Once collected, 4THBIN sorts the items and any data-bearing devices are secured in their data security lab and the data erasure/destruction is conducted in compliance with NIST 800-88 standards.

Where possible, items are inspected and repaired to extend their useful life. Unfortunately, the majority of e-waste that is collected tends to be at the end of its useful life. In that case, the items are dismantled into individual components and then used as raw materials for the production of new electronics or other products. For example, recycling one million cell phones can recover 35,274 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium. In the US alone, over 140 million cell phones are thrown into landfills every year. If all those cell phones were recycled, it would save enough energy to power 25,000 households for one year.

Each BGA E-Waste Drive diverts between 3,000 - 5,000 pounds of electronic waste from landfills and the majority of Broadway shows participate in the recycling effort.

Those unable to attend the drive can visit the BGA website and review the e-waste disposal guide at www.broadwaygreen.com or email info@broadwaygreen.com for more information on how to properly dispose of electronic waste.

For more information about 4THBIN visit www.4thbin.com.

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