Recycling is required in all private homes and multifamily buildings, but recycling programs don't always work as they should. Buildings looking to improve recycling practices have two great, no-cost options for help. GrowNYC's Office of Recycling Outreach and Education (OROE), and the Apartment Building Recycling Initiative (ABRI), managed by the Department of Sanitation's Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling.

OROE's Recycling Outreach Coordinators target neighborhoods with lower recycling rates and offer apartment buildings free hands-on assistance such as "chute room makeovers," on-site trainings for maintenance staff and workshops for building residents. The ABRI program works with dedicated volunteer recycling coordinators approved by their building management to liaise directly with the Department. ABRI provides monthly training sessions in lower Manhattan and will visit your building to provide suggestions for improving your recycling program. On-site trainings are also available for groups of 10 or more. To see how some buildings have worked successfully with GrowNYC, read more about instituting organics collection at Morningside Gardens and some of our work at Jamie Towers Cooperative Apartments.

Springtime is turning the city green, and that includes ushering in seasonal Greenmarkets offering fresh local produce and more opportunities to drop off food scraps for composting and unwanted clothing for reuse or recycling. This month we welcome the return of the 57th Street Greenmarket, featuring both collections. Find the latest schedules for all new and returning food scrap and textile drop-offs, including Easter schedule changes affecting Tompkins Square and Carroll Gardens.

Join a panel of environmentalists, economists, anthropologists, and entrepreneurs as they examine the life cycle of the goods we buy-from conception and design to labor and manufacturing, through repair and disposal. Learn more.

Give more than a scrap, give a shirt! Bring clean and dry clothing, paired shoes, coats, hats, bedding, linens, scarves, handbags, belts, fabric scraps 36"x36" or larger and other textiles. We do not accept rugs, carpeting, household items or commercial waste. Usable items will be sorted for reuse. Worn, torn, or stained items will be recycled. Your contribution to the program is tax deductible. A pop-up clothing & textile recycling event in partnership with Queens Library & GrowNYC's Office of Recycling Outreach and Education. Learn more.

Bring clean, reusable, portable items such as clothing, house wares, games, books, & toys that you no longer need, and take home something new-to-you, free! You don't have to bring something to take something. No furniture or large items, please. Learn more.

Saturday, April 5, 12pm-3pm: Queens
PS 50, 143-26 101st Ave, Jamaica

Saturday, April 19, 12pm-3pm: Queens
Sunnyside Community Services, 43-31 39th St
(b/t 43rd Ave & Queens Blvd)

Sunday, April 27, 1pm-4pm: Manhattan
Two Bridges Tower, 82 Rutgers Slip

Responsibly recycle unwanted or broken electronics (no appliances such as microwaves or refrigerators) at spring events sponsored by the Lower East Side Ecology Center. All events 10am-4pm. Upcoming collection dates below. Check www.lesecologycenter.org for the full schedule. Click here for a list of what's accepted.

Saturday, April 5: Williamsburg + West Village
Sunday, April 6: Van Cortlandt Park + Jackson Heights
Saturday, April 12: Fort Greene
Sunday, April 13: Upper West Side
Saturday, April 26: Chelsea
Sunday, April 27: Ditmas Park + West Harlem
Saturday, May 3: Astoria + Hell's Kitchen
Sunday, May 4: Cobble Hill + Bay Ridge

Bring your broken stuff to the Columbia and Inwood Greenmarkets this month for some TLC from Pop Up Repair. On April 5th and 6th, the first 10 visitors will get a second repair half off! Drop offs will be accepted starting at 9am. Learn more.

Recycle unwanted textiles (clothing, towels, sheets, etc.), including old Crocs, donate gently used toys, visit with green vendors and learn what to recycle in NYC with GrowNYC's Office of Recycling Outreach and Education! Learn more.

Join the NYPD's Crime Prevention Section to shred your documents containing your personal / sensitive information. This is a FREE service. You can also register your electronic devices with the NYPD's Operation ID Program.

Recycle clothing and textiles and check items off your to-fix list with Pop Up Repair Shop at this annual event featuring raffles, giveaways and eco-friendly activities for kids and adults. Learn more.

Trained, licensed professionals will shred and recycle your personal papers free of charge. Bring as little or as much as you would like to recycle. Learn more.

2014 SAFE Disposal Schedule:
Queens: Saturday, April 26 - Cunningham Park
Brooklyn: Sunday, May 4 - McCarren Park
Bronx: Saturday, May 10 - Orchard Beach Parking Lot
Manhattan: Sunday, May 11 - Union Square, North Plaza
Staten Island: Saturday, May 17 - Midland Beach Parking Lot

Join us at FABnyc's Load OUT!, an afternoon of repurposing and recycling that showcases creative thinking about sustainability and the arts. While FAB makes costumes, props, and furniture available to artists, GrowNYC and other partners will provide free recycling for clothing, textiles and electronics. Get more information on this great event.

Celebrate community and dragons with family-oriented arts and entertainment including a Recycling Relay Race and a Free Store table, where you can bring a few small, clean, reusable items to share, or just bring a tote bag and help yourself to something you can use (no furniture or large items, please). Visit www.stgeorgedaysi.com for more information on these and other festivities.

Join us for A Toast to Gotham on Monday April 28th. Celebrate in style when you buy your tickets, and feel good because 100% of all proceeds go to GrowNYC! Get your tickets today!