Best Places to Donate and Dispose of Your Things in NYC

Just because you live in a tiny NYC apartment doesn’t mean you haven’t collected a bunch of items over the year(s) that you’ve lived there. Even if you think you’re living the minimalist life, chances are you’ll find a lot of stuff you might not want to take with you for your NYC move. 

While it might be tempting to just toss everything to the curb, you need to follow city regulations, especially when it comes to larger items, if you want to avoid paying fines. Of course, by donating as many items as you can you’re also helping the environment so it’s a win-win situation. Once you’ve decluttered your apartment, the guide below can help you find places to donate everything. 

Donating Items

Before you toss an item into the trash, take a good look at its condition. If it’s still in good shape, you might consider donating stuff you don’t want to take with you. It might be more of a hassle, but you can rest easy knowing the items you no longer want will find a new home. Plus, if you donate to a non-profit your donations could be tax deductible.

Almost Everything

If you want to save time, you can donate almost all of your items to Salvation Army, Goodwill, or Housing Works. If you’re looking to donate furniture, keep in mind that Goodwill does not accept furniture. For everything else, all three options will accept them so long as the items you donate are in good condition. That means no stains, rips, breaks, etc. 

If you don’t want to donate to these organizations, there are some others that accept a wide variety of items including:

• Hour Children
• CancerCare
• GreenDrop
• VintageThrift

Furniture

If you have pieces of furniture that you don’t want to take with you, donate to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore. The organization will take just about anything that falls into this category as well as other items like:

• Refrigerators
• Fans
• Mirrors
• Toilets
• Stoves
• Air conditioners
• Windows

You can also reach out to Nazareth Housing, a nonprofit that provides supporting housing. They accept a wide variety of household items including chairs, dressers, tables, small kitchen appliances, bedding, and more.

Books

Some bookstores, like the Strand and Argosy, will buy your unwanted books. Of course, you won’t get a large sum of money from the sale, but depending on how many books you sell, the quality, and demand, you could make a tidy sum. As you might expect, these stores are very selective so they might not buy certain books. The Strand does allow you to donate the books they don’t buy, but you won’t get a tax receipt for it as they are not a non-profit.

Unfortunately, New York City Public Libraries no longer accept book donations. However, you can donate to groups such as the Friends Group which hold sales at select locations. If that fails, consider working with NYC Books Through Bars, an organization that mails books directly to incarcerated individuals. They only accept paperbacks at the Red Hook location. Besides that, you can also drop off books at your local Little Free Libraries. 

Electronics

If your electronics are still in good condition you can, of course, donate to places like Salvation Army and Goodwill. However, you might have better luck finding people to take it at your local Buy Nothing Facebook group. While you might not get a tax receipt for this donation, you’ll still be able to find a good home for your old TV or printer. 

If you want to make sure your belongings are going to a good cause, check out We Care Act NYC. You can donate things like old computers, iPads, e-readers, phones, calculators, and more. All of these get refurbished and then donated to support educational organizations around NYC.

Clothes

While you can always donate your clothes to the big three thrift stores in NYC (Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Housing Works), you might also want to consider donating to nonprofits like The Bowery Mission, which provides clothes directly to New Yorkers in need. Are you a woman and want to donate your professional clothes? Then reach out to Dress for Success as they accept professional attire and distribute it to their clients. For men, you can donate to places like That Suits You or Techie Youth.

Disposing of Items

If no organization wants to take your items or if they are in bad shape, you might not have any choice but to dispose of them. Fortunately, there are better ways to dispose of your items than just throwing them in the trash or to the curb.

Trash and Recycling

Most people don’t know when trash or recycling day is because their building managers take care of it. And nowadays many buildings offer mixed recycling options so you don’t even have to separate your paper from your plastic bottles. Still, it’s a good idea to know what should go into the trash versus recycling. In general, NYC will accept the following in recycling bins:

• Paper
• Cardboard
• Glass
• Metal
• Plastic (not pliable)
• Beverage cartons

Luckily, there’s no limit to how many bags or items you can put into the recycling collection. When it comes to trash, there’s even fewer limitations. Pretty much everything can be thrown in the trash except for things like electronics or e-waste.

And, if you’re moving out but have a ton of organic food waste, you can drop these off at your local green market compost. There are even some composting bins around NYC, but they are few and far between. You can download the Smart Composting Bin app on iOS and Android. Not only does the app give you access to the bins, it also shows you their location. Remember, you can compost things like food scraps, plant waste, food-soiled paper but you cannot compost diapers, animal waste, non-paper packaging, or recyclable materials.

Electronics and E-Waste

As of 2015, it is illegal for New Yorkers to throw out their electronics in the trash. If your electronics are not salvageable, you will need to discard your items at one of the special waste drop-off sites, during a SAFE disposal event in the spring or fall, or at one of the 90 locations around the city including Best Buy (you’ll need to pay $25) or Staples (does not accept TVs). The Department of Sanitation will also pick up electronics, but you will have to make an appointment beforehand.

So what counts as electronics? It typically includes:

• TVs
• Laptops
• Tablets
• Smartphones
• Computers and peripherals
• Printers
• Fax Machines
• MP3 Players
• Scanners
• Cameras
• DVD Players
• Video game consoles

Bulky Items

If the items you are throwing out are too big to fit in regular recycling or trash bins, then you will need to coordinate a bulk trash pickup. In general, you can place up to six bulky items on the curb between 6pm and midnight the night before your regular trash collection day. If you’re not sure what those days are, you can check the Department of Sanitation website. Also, you should keep in mind that there are two types of bulky items: recyclable and trash.

Recyclable bulk items tend to be made mostly from metal and rigid plastic. These can be placed on the curb with the recycling. Some examples include:

• Metal lawn chairs and furniture
• Grills
• Bicycles
• Washers and dryers
• Bedsprings
• Plastic toys
• Paper shredders
• Ovens

Bulky trash items are essentially the opposite and should be placed the night before trash collection. Some examples include:

• Christmas trees
• Artificial plants
• Recliners
• Wooden tables
• Area rugs
• Mattresses – you must put mattresses into plastic mattress bags. You can purchases these at department stores or home improvement stores

There are also special bulky items that require specific disposal methods because they contain CFC, also known as Freon. You cannot leave these out with your trash. Instead, you will have to call up the Department of Sanitation and make an appointment to have the items picked up and safely removed. These items include:

• Air conditioners
• Dehumidifiers
• Water coolers
• Fridges and freezer

Clothes

Technically, you can just toss your worn clothes into the trash, but if you’re concerned for the environment you might want to reconsider since every year 92 million tons of clothes end up in landfills. If you don’t want to add to this number, there are a number of options available. One city run program is the textile donation bins through GrowNYC. In addition to clothes, they also accept shoes, handbags, and belts. 

Some clothing companies, like H&M, have clothing donation bins in their stores. In most cases, the clothes you drop off don’t even have to be from that particular brand. And finally if you want to avoid future clothes waste, consider signing up your new apartment building for refashionNYC. So long as your apartment building has 10 or more units, you can sign up for this free, in-building program for old clothes and other fabric items. 

Make Your Next Move Waste Free

Okay, so maybe it’s not possible to make a NYC move completely waste-free, but you can definitely reduce the amount of items you throw into the trash. Donate as much as you can. If you still have leftovers post them on Craigslist or your local buy nothing group. You’ll be surprised with what people take! You can also place your items in the lobby of your apartment (if allowed) and have a FREE sign. It will disappear within a few hours. However, if there are still items you can’t get rid of, the handy guide for disposals should at least make it more safe.

Once you have decided where to donate all of your items, you should let your NYC movers know the plan. That way, they can drive the items to these locations on moving day and you can get everything done in one day. Just remember that any extra time added to the move means extra money so make sure you have the budget for this beforehand.

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