By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — It may be difficult to imagine spring with the white sheet of snow, ice and sleet covering Manhattan these days, but some Inwood residents are already thinking "green" as they plan for three recycling events scheduled Saturday.
Whether it’s textiles, electronics or household stuff cluttering their apartments, Upper Manhattan residents will get a chance to "reduce, reuse and recycle" at one of the events.
"We’ve been spending a lot of time inside with all the cold this winter," said Inwood resident Marina Sogel, 38, who said she plans to participate in at least one of the venues. "We need to clean out some of the clutter and make more room for us."
At the RING Garden on Dyckman Street, on Riverside Drive between Dyckman Street and Seaman Avenue, the Lower East Side Ecology Center plans to come up north to help residents "responsibly dispose of unwanted or broken gadgets."
The group hopes to reach its goal of 100 tons of electronics trash this January by collecting items like computers, monitors, printers, scanners, TVs, VCRs, DVD players, cell phones, etc. at events throughout the five boroughs.
The recycled items will stay in the US to be used by American companies and will not be shipped overseas, according to the Ecology Center. A list of acceptable items is available on the Ecology Center’s site. The event will last from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
At the Inwood Farmers Market, on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street, folks who need to get ride of unwanted linens or clothing can drop off items from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. as part of GrowNYC’s weekly textile recycling station. A list of acceptable items for textile recylcing is available on the GrowNYC site as well.
And for those who need some incentive to purge those closets, GrowNYC will also host "Stop 'N' Swap," where residents can trade their lightly used unwanted items for something from someone else’s home.
It is not necessary to bring an item in order to take an item at the event, which will be held at in the I.S. 52 cafeteria, at 650 Academy Street between Broadway and Vermilyea from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
"I love the idea of swapping my stuff for new stuff," said Iliana Martinez, 23, from Inwood. "I’m broke after Christmas, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to shop."
