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Business
Where Scavenging Recyclables is Outlawed, Scavengers Earn Cash
By R.J. Rubio
Staff Writer
Standing in the pouring rain at the corner of East Fourth Street and Avenue A, Hector Reyes, 51, was razor-focused on the task at hand, shoveling bottles and cans into the machines imprinted with “Redeem 5¢.”
Scavenging for recyclable containers that other people throw away is popular among the less fortunate such as Reyes. That population has increased during the Recession and he, for one, couldn’t help but notice, said Reyes, who lives in the Bronx but concentrates his scavenging on Manhattan neighborhoods below 23rd Street.
“I just go through the garbage bags and take whatever I need,” Reyes said. “Not only the cans and bottles, but I also find real nice s—. Watches, jewelries, cameras, you won’t believe the things that people throw out.”
The goal is to load his shopping carts with mounds of plastic, glass bottles and cans, then cash them in.
However necessary this activity seems for Reyes, New York City officially outlaws sifting through trash that is placed curbside for Department of Sanitation pick-up. Regulation §16-118(7)(b) reads like this: “Except for an authorized employee or agent of the DSNY, it shall be unlawful for any person to disturb, remove, or transport any amount of recyclable material left curbside for collection of removal by the Department.”
Fines for breaking the law range from $100 to $300.
“The unlawful removal of recyclables adversely impact the productivity of sanitation workers since the material that is set out by the city’s residents is often poached at various intervals and amounts,” Ron Gonen, deputy commissioner for sanitation, sustainability and recycling, wrote in an e-mail reply to this reporter
Scavenging, he continued, diminishes the effectiveness of city recycling efforts, including the city’s ability to keep track of worker productivity and costs.
Unlawful poaching also cuts into income the city generates by selling recyclables.
Department officials have drafted a bill that would step up enforcement of the anti-scavenging law and impose criminal penalties on law-breakers.
People such as Reyes object to the city’s policy and the suggestion that they are stealing what’s been left out as trash. “My father taught me not to steal, that’s just not how we were raised.” Reyes said. “I mean, I make $800 a month. This is how I support my wife and our smoking habits.”
On Twitter @RJRubioo.