Newark residents can contribute to a cleaner and healthier community in honor of Earth Day 2018 by bringing their old electronics to a free e-waste collection event taking place, rain or shine, on Thursday, April 19 at Peter Francisco Park, located between Edison Place and Ferry Street near Penn Station in Newark's Ironbound District from 7:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

Items that can be collected include, but are not limited to, computer laptops and desktops, televisions, monitors, mice, keyboards and peripherals, CD/VCR/DVD players, small home office copiers/fax machines, MP3 players, photo/video cameras, and more. Prohibited items include hazardous wastes/liquids, loose batteries, toner cartridges, fluorescent lamps, and appliances like washers, dryers, and stoves. Household appliances must not contain freon or oil, like refrigerators, air conditioners, and space heaters. The event, now in its fifth year, is a partnership between the Ironbound Business Improvement District (IBID), Covanta, a world-leading sustainable waste and materials management company and operator of the Essex County Resource Recovery Facility in Newark, and technology leader Panasonic, in cooperation with the City of Newark and Urban Renewal Corporation, a local not-for-profit emergency housing and social services organization.

Collected materials will be recycled at Covanta's electronic waste processing facility, an R2 and e-Stewards certified operation, and at Urban Renewal's Training & Development Center located in the greater Newark area and at their R2 facility in Philadelphia. Both entities provide data destruction security measures, however it is recommended that residents wipe all data from their devices prior to dropping them off. The proper collection and recycling of electronic items helps keep hazardous materials out of the waste stream by reducing the amount of electronics discarded in regular household trash. This, in turn, reduces the need to mine more raw materials from the earth, further protecting our environment.