Here at GrowNYC's Office of Recycling Outreach and Education, we get excited for October, which produces a parade of festive pumpkins to brighten our Greenmarket compost bins after Halloween and shows that New Yorkers can have fun and still give a scrap. This month we also have some great video links to share, with footage of what happens to your recycled textiles, where NYC's waste goes and how some of it gets recycled. We hope to see you out recycling at the Greenmarkets, reusing at Stop 'N' Swap�, and talking with us at other great neighborhood events!

What about...BATTERIES?

Batteries come in all shapes and sizes, but one rule applies to them all: no batteries in your recycling bin! Please remember to remove batteries from toys and appliances before recycling. Rechargeable batteries are prohibited by law from disposal in residential trash and recycling bins, but easy to recycle by dropping at any retailer that sells batteries of that type, at no charge to the consumer. Alkaline batteries no longer contain added mercury and are considered safe for disposal in the regular trash, but recycling resources do exist for these and other types of batteries. Learn more about battery recycling and disposal in NYC.

Green Your Halloween!

With Halloween 2014 coming on the heels of the BoxTrolls movie, recycled cardboard costumes are sure to be in high demand. Even if you won't be creating one of these characters, we've got great tips for greening this season of ghosts and gourds in our latest blog post.

Where NYC's Waste Goes

When you throw an item into your trash can, it leaves your life, but that's hardly the end of the journey. If you're curious about what happens to your waste, check out this great video on the glass, metal, plastic and carton recycling processat NYC's new facility that handles every bottle, milk carton and piece of scrap metal we place out for collection each week (3:40). For a more in-depth look at how far we've come--from dumping waste directly into the ocean, to piloting curbside collection for residential food scraps--take a look at "Where Does Our Trash Go?" from the New York Times' Living City series (7:47).

GrowNYC Partner Spotlight: Wearable Collections

GrowNYC wishes a happy 10th Anniversary to our textile recycling partner, NYC-based Wearable Collections, who in the past decade has recycled 10 million pounds of clothing (more than 3 million pounds collected at dozens of Greenmarkets)! Wearable Collections creates innovative hubs of collections for convenient clothing recycling. What started out as a project to raise funds for Spinal Cord Research in 2004, has grown to a company that recycles clothes in over 200 residential buildings, 31 weekly Greenmarkets and hundreds of clothing drives annually and in 2013 donated nearly $70,000 to its charitable partners. What happens to the material collected? 50% will be reused as second hand, 25% reused as rags and 20% will be shredded and re-purposed for low grade fiber products. Watch this video to learn more about WC's textile recycling process. Find a Greenmarket textile collection at www.grownyc.org/clothing.

Greenmarket Schedule Changes

Due to the holidays, Boro Park and Williamsburg Greenmarkets will be closed on October 9th and 16th. Special markets held on October 7th and 14th will include textile and food scrap collections.

Upcoming Events

October Stop 'N' Swap� Schedule

Bring clean, reusable, portable items such as clothing, housewares, 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, October 4 - Lower Manhattan

12pm-3pm, Two Bridges Tower
82 Rutgers Slip (map)

Saturday, October 11 - Queens
12pm-3pm, Sunnyside Community Services
43-31 39th St (b/t Queens Blvd & 43rd Ave) (map)

Electronics Recycling with Lower East Side Ecology Center

Responsibly recycle unwanted or broken electronics (no appliances such as microwaves or refrigerators) with the Lower East Side Ecology Center. All events 10am-4pm. Learn more.

Saturday, October 11 - East Harlem
Saturday, October 11 - Flatbush
Sunday, October 12 - Upper West Side
Saturday, October 18 - Chelsea
Sunday, October 19 - Park Slope
Sunday, October 19 - Forest Hills
Saturday, October 25 - Upper West Side
Sunday, October 26 - Lower East Side
Sunday, October 26 - Cobble Hill

Halloween Costume Swap

Saturday, October 25, 9am-1pm
St. George Greenmarket
St Marks & Hyatt Sts, Staten Island [map]
inside theater parking lot

Resurrect your costumes for reuse at this event hosted by our sister program, Greenmarket! Bring last year's hit costumes, accessories and cool clothing or just help yourself to some free Halloween fashion. Swap items limited to CLEAN clothing, costumes, and accessories only, please. Note: this market also accepts food scraps for composting and textiles for reuse/recycling.

Find us in your neighborhood!

Meet OROE at these events and get answers to your recycling questions!

PARK SLOPE: Saturday, October 4, 11am-2pm, NW Corner of Prospect Park - Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket

UNION SQUARE: Friday, October 10, 4pm-8pm, Union Square North Plaza (17th & Broadway) - Mercato Notturno

BATTERY PARK: Saturday, October 18, 12pm-6:30pm, Broadway near Whitehall St - Harvest Fest and Square Dance

GrowNYC's OFFICE OF RECYCLING OUTREACH & EDUCATION (OROE) is a NYC Department of Sanitation funded project housed within the nonprofit organization, GrowNYC. OROE works to improve the City's recycling rate by educating residents about recycling and waste prevention, and working with landlords to make sure building recycling programs are adequate. Our free services include apartment building recycling audits, trainings for tenants and supers, community events centered on education and special collection programs for textiles, electronics, and compost. For more information visit www.grownyc.org or call 212-788-7964.