DSNY Recycling Guidelines
Lower Manhattan Skyline
The Department of Sanitation for New York City has recycling laws that are different for individual residents and residential buildings with four or more residential units. For those larger buildings, recycling cardboard can be a time consuming and difficult task.
Building superintendents must provide recycling areas within the building that are accessible to residents and staff. They must be maintained and have recyclables stored such that they are not a nuisance or sanitary problem, fire, or safety hazard.
Significant fines can be levied if cardboard is allowed to pile up outside of the building. These piles often lead to pilferage, vermin, and become unsightly representations of the facility itself.
The problem comes with a growing amount of cardboard and limited space for these recycling areas. How can a building collect and store cardboard in a way that makes sense and follows the regulations set by the DSNY?
Baling Cardboard Makes Sense
More and more building managers in NYC and other cities are using smaller vertical balers to bale their growing amount of cardboard. Balers like Harmony’s M30STD and M42BC are solutions that allow cardboard to be flattened, bundled, and moved to the curb on recycling day in an efficient way.
Some of the many benefits that customers receive with these quality balers include:
Our M42BC Vertical Stockroom Baler With A Harmony Bale Cart
- They can be unloaded easily on street level.
- They fit under a standard doorway.
- They can be rolled into place on casters.
- They require a minimal operating space.
- They are a “plug and play” solution, using standard electrical service.
- The bales produced are manageable and can be moved with a Harmony Bale Cart or pallet jack.
- They are more affordable than other larger, or other side-by-side balers.
- They are proven to outlast other types of balers.
The most important reason building superintendents are using Harmony balers is that the resulting bale can be sold to recyclers, creating additional revenue where there once was an expense to have it hauled away! This creates an immediate ROI on the recycling equipment, while allowing buildings to conform to the required recycling laws enforced by the city.
Alliance For Downtown New York Resource Guide
Residents and Property Mangers in downtown New York and Lower Manhattan now have a helpful printable sanitation guide in the “Lower Manhattan Residential Sanitation Resource Guide for Residents and Property Owners.”
Harmony’s M30STD Vertical Baler is the perfect solution for compact baling applications in urban areas.
This informative document printed by the Downtown Alliance provides suggestions on recycling, waste diversion, affordable means to bale and compact waste that collects on sidewalks, as well as other policy recommendations from the DSNY.
Page 10 of this valuable resource specifies Harmony’s M30STD Vertical Baler as a recommended baler for residential buildings. It focuses on the positive impact and reduction of recyclable waste that balers like this can create, especially in compact urban areas where space is a premium.
Emerald Green Is A Gem Of An Example
As a luxury Glenwood property located on W. 38th Street, Emerald Green is known for its spacious accommodations and fantastic views of the city.
Like many high rise apartment buildings, Emerald Green has a substantial number of tenants that generate a large amount of cardboard. This recyclable commodity needs to be dispersed from the residential facility on a weekly basis. The option of simply discarding the cardboard in a pile on the sidewalk or storage areas is not safe, feasible, or responsible. So, Emerald Green looked for a way to recycle it.
With the recent DSNY recycling laws, Emerald Green needed a solution to help with them with their growing cardboard. They called Harmony and learned that the M30STD Vertical baler was the right solution for his building.
Now that they have the M30STD, they can easily create several bales of cardboard per week. Recycling cardboard allows Emerald Green to save on space, create a clean and sanitary recycling environment, reduce pilferage, reduce trash related costs, and improve building aesthetics for their tenants. Instead of spending money to have cardboard removed, they are not earning extra income recycling it!
Harmony Enterprises has 14 different models of vertical balers to help you and your residential apartment building with recycling cardboard. If you would like to learn more about our many different solutions for recycling cardboard, please give us a call at 507-886-6666 or Contact Us today!
