A little over a week ago, the world rang in the new year one time zone at a time. When it got to the United States, ringing in the new year also brought in new laws, state by state and city by city. USA Today had a headline, “New year brings in hundreds of new laws.” Some of them are as follows. 21 states and five cities raised their minimum wage. Five states increased their taxes on gasoline. In California, dogs are allowed to dine with their human companions in restaurants’ outdoor patios, if the restaurant allows. Illinois imposed a beer tax. Massachusetts will allow “hold open” clips on gas pumps, so customers do not have to hold on to it while pumping gas into their cars. In Oregon, if the home was previously used as a meth lab, sellers must disclose it to the potential buyers. Although, the article didn’t say whether recreation vehicles are included in the law, because they are considered, as per “Breaking Bad,” as “private domicile,” and the occupants shall not be harassed.
In the City of New York, I received an official notice stating, “Starting January 2015, you can’t discard electronics in the trash. Look inside for recycling options.” When I received it in the mail, I thought, “Great! The city’s doing something positive. Let’s see how this great city is going to get this done.
When I opened it, I was extremely disappointed. The notice lists five recycling options.
1) DSNY (Department of Sanitation New York City) allows apartment buildings with more than 10 units to enroll for “free and convenient” pickup service.
2) Retail drop-off programs. Electronics can be dropped off at Goodwill, Salvation Army, Best Buy, Staples (no TVs), or the Gowanus E-Waste Warehouse.
3) Free mail-back programs.
4) Electronics recycling events.
5) Donate or sell working electronics.
Seriously?! This is one very irresponsible law. So the law is to turn everybody in New York City into someone like me, who ends up sitting on a bunch of electronic waste and don’t really know what to do with them. Apartment buildings are asked to voluntarily enroll for pickup service. What if somebody lives in a building with fewer than 10 units? They will have to physically move their electronic waste to a drop off facility. What if the tenant is physically incapable of moving the items to a drop off location?
Missing in the notice is punishment. Electronics cannot be discarded in the trash, but it doesn’t say what will happen if they do. Sure, large items are easy to spot; such as large monitors, computer towers, all-in-one printers, etc. What about the MP3 players, mice, and video game consoles that are listed in the notice? They’re small enough to be thrown out with tonight’s dinner trash. When thinking about it, so what about large items? Who will stop me if I decide to bring a computer tower to the corner and drop it next to a trash can at the intersection in the middle of the night? DSNY does not work that late, although, it is an agency that is allowed to issue summons. Better yet, the New York City Police Department is on a work slowdown, so chances are, I will not get a summons for such a menial offense. What will happen to the computer tower? Will it just sit in the intersection until it rusts itself away?
A responsible law will not only have punishment, but also solutions. For example, normal trash, we’re not allowed to discard it anywhere else in the city, except at designated locations. It is the same with recyclables, such as cans, bottles, and papers products. They are normally convenient, for high-rise apartment buildings, there are garbage chutes. The garbage gets compressed and left at the curb for collection. For houses, residents haul the garbage out to the curb in front of their home. It should be the same for electronic waste. Disposing of it should be simple, not the same inconveniences as before the law. The law doesn’t really change anything. Even with convenient collection of non-recyclables and recyclables, some people still don’t do it, what made the lawmakers think that having a law in place will make people do more work?
I’m quite disappointed. Maybe on the bright side, at least it’s a step in the right direction, albeit, a very small step, more like a twitch.
25 Extremely Bizarre Laws: http://youtu.be/S_NEBE2n3QE
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