2023 E-waste Guidelines

Residents can drop off electronic recyclables — typically anything that contains a circuit board or needs a battery — from 8 a.m.-noon at the city garage, 1 Collis St., on the four designated e-waste drop-off days: Jan. 14, April 22, June 10 and Oct. 14. See the 2023 Garbage Schedule.

The city is partnering with Take 2 Inc. of Waterbury, a state-approved recycler and collector of universal e-waste devices, to collect residential electronic items on a quarterly basis. The collection is free for residents who have such items as computers, monitors, printers, keyboards, modems, computer mice, tablet computers, TVs, VCRs, DVD players, photocopiers, fax machines, scanners, video game machines, digital media players, personal digital assistants, stereo equipment, telephones, cellphones, cameras, microwaves and other small appliances.

E-waste Drop-off Acceptable Electronics

Anything that has refrigerant, including air conditioners and dehumidifiers, is not accepted. Those items are considered white goods, and residents are asked to schedule a pickup on their weekly curbside collection day by calling the Highway Department at 203-937-3644 or 203-937-3585.

For the e-waste drop-off, residents are asked to heed the following guidelines:

• Stay in your vehicle.
• Vehicles will be spaced out. Event workers will remove electronics from your vehicle. There should be no interaction between residents and workers.
• No mattresses or box springs will be disposed of at the moment.
• No smoke detectors, ballasts or hazardous waste — lighter fluid, liquids, paint — will be accepted.
• Electronic items left curbside will be tagged with information on the e-waste schedule and must be removed, or face a potential fine.

Data Destroyed

Residents do not need to remove and destroy computer hard drives before dropping them off.

“Take 2 protects your data through procedures set forth by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). We’ll wipe it, magnetize it or physically demolish it to ensure that your data is completely destroyed.”

More details at Take 2 Inc.'s website.