R2v3 Certified Facilities in New York

The New York State Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act was signed 28 May 2010 and is codified at ECL Article 27, Title 26, §§ 27-2601 to 27-2621, with regulations at 6 NYCRR Subpart 368-3.

Sources: ECL Article 27, Title 26

The ban hit businesses three years before households

ECL § 27-2611(2) provides that beginning January first, two thousand twelve, no person except for an individual or household shall place or dispose of any electronic waste in any solid waste management facility. Businesses were bound from 1 January 2012; households from 1 January 2015; manufacturers, retailers and facilities from 1 April 2011.

And NYSDEC's own public page does not say so. Its consumer-facing page presents the ban as a 2015 consumer measure with no mention of the earlier business date. The statute controls: businesses have been banned since 2012.

Sources: ECL § 27-2611 · NYSDEC, guidance for businesses, institutions and government

But it does not reach most enterprise IT

ECL § 27-2601(5) defines covered electronic equipment as a computer; computer peripheral; small electronic equipment; small-scale server; cathode ray tube; or television — and expressly excludes a server other than a small-scale server, a stand-alone storage product intended for use in industrial, research and development or commercial settings, and equipment that is functionally or physically part of a larger piece of equipment intended for use in an industrial, research and development or commercial setting. Bare cases and enclosures stripped of components are carved out too.

Rack servers and SAN or NAS arrays fall outside § 27-2611 entirely. A data centre refresh in New York does not run through the e-waste Act at all — it runs through 6 NYCRR Parts 370 to 374 and 376, and the C7 scrap-metal exemption.

Sources: ECL § 27-2601

What you actually have to keep

Title 26 imposes no registration or reporting duty on a business disposing of its own equipment; those sit on manufacturers, retailers and registered facilities. The record-keeping duty comes from the hazardous waste side instead. NYSDEC treats most used electronic equipment as presumed hazardous, handled under the scrap metal exemption, and states that generators still need to keep the information required in the notification in their records on-site, keep it up-to-date and provide it to DEC inspectors upon request, while no longer being required to submit that notification to DEC.

In practice: complete the generic C7 notification form citing the 6 NYCRR 371.1(g)(1)(iii)(b) exemption and retain it on site. NYSDEC does not state a retention period.

Sources: NYSDEC, guidance for businesses, institutions and government

Conditionally exempt small quantity generators are excused unless the e-waste plus other hazardous waste at the site exceeds CESQG limits under 6 NYCRR 371.1(f)(3)(i). For donations, NYSDEC advises obtaining documentation from the recipient — guidance, not a codified duty.

Sources: NYSDEC, guidance for businesses, institutions and government

Penalties, and a conflict inside the statute itself

ECL § 71-2729(1)(b) caps a business violation at $250 per violation, and subdivision 1(a) caps a consumer at $100. But ECL § 27-2601(4) defines consumer to expressly include a business, corporation, limited partnership and not-for-profit. So a business is a consumer under Title 26 — which puts it in the $100 bucket and leaves § 71-2729(1)(b) with almost nobody to apply to.

We are flagging this rather than resolving it. Assume $100 to $250 per violation and treat the ambiguity as unresolved. Those numbers are trivial, and they are also not where the risk is: where equipment is managed as hazardous waste and mishandled, Article 71 Title 27 hazardous-waste penalties apply instead — § 71-2705 and the related criminal provisions, which are in a different order of magnitude entirely.

Sources: ECL § 71-2729 · ECL § 27-2601

On the data — New York has all three

Records disposal sits at GBL § 399-h(2), which bars any business from disposing of a record containing personal identifying information unless it shreds the record, destroys the information, modifies the record to make it unreadable, or takes actions consistent with commonly accepted industry practices. Section 399-h(3) authorises an Attorney General injunction and a civil penalty of not more than $5,000, counts acts arising from the same incident as a single violation, and provides an affirmative defence where the business shows it used due diligence.

Sources: GBL § 399-h

And the SHIELD Act extends the standard into transit

The physical-safeguards safe harbour at GBL § 899-bb(2)(b)(ii)(C) requires a business to assess risks of storage and disposal, to protect against unauthorized access to or use of private information during or after the collection, transportation and destruction or disposal of the information, and to dispose of private information within a reasonable time by erasing electronic media so that the information cannot be read or reconstructed.

Like Illinois, New York reaches the vendor in transit rather than only at the point of destruction. Non-compliance is deemed a GBL § 349 violation enforceable by the Attorney General, and § 899-bb(2)(e) provides no private right of action.

Sources: GBL § 899-bb, the SHIELD Act

Breach notification

GBL § 899-aa(2) requires disclosure without unreasonable delay and within thirty days of discovery. A determination that an inadvertent authorised-person disclosure is not notifiable must be documented in writing and kept five years, and where more than 500 New York residents are affected that determination goes to the Attorney General within ten days. Penalties for a knowing or reckless violation are the greater of $5,000 or $20 per instance, capped at $250,000.

Sources: GBL § 899-aa

And the pivot that catches people

NYSDEC states flatly that used electronic equipment that is sold for its scrap value is also subject to NYSDEC solid and hazardous waste regulations, while working equipment directly sold or donated for reuse is not considered to be discarded, and thus, is not a waste. Its own advice is to assume the worst: most businesses and institutions that generate used electronic equipment do not know if their equipment will be reused, resold, recycled, or dismantled, and handling it as potential solid and hazardous waste will keep the business in compliance.

Reuse status is the pivot, and you usually do not know it at the moment of pickup. Which is an argument for documenting disposition per asset rather than per load.

Sources: NYSDEC, guidance for businesses, institutions and government

NYSDEC also flags that it is in the process of developing a rulemaking that will amend regulations to streamline the management of used electronic equipment. The non-household generator requirements above are therefore subject to change.

Sources: NYSDEC, guidance for businesses, institutions and government

NYSDEC. It maintains a list of registered e-waste recycling facilities sorted by county, with the express caveat that inclusion does not constitute an endorsement. For businesses, NYSDEC's language is encouragement rather than mandate — businesses are strongly encouraged to recycle all used electronic equipment.

A facility can be registered with NYSDEC without being certified, and certified without being registered. This directory does not cross-reference the two, so a listing here is not a statement about NYSDEC registration either way — check the Department's list separately.

Sources: NYSDEC, registered e-waste recycling facilities