Verona Park, Essex County (Photography by Samuel Maged)
Essex County Solid Waste Management
Are you a Solid Waste Hauler?
Find instructions to set up payments, disposal instructions, and driving directions necessary to utilize
the authorized Essex County Solid Waste Facilities.
Are You a Resident? Residential Bulky Waste Disposal
To dispose of construction or demolition materials or other residential bulky waste that cannot be taken at collection, residents can bring the materials to one of Essex County’s contracted waste disposal sites.
Waste Management Facility
864 Julia St
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
908-289-1383
DROP OFF HOURS
Tuesday and Thursday 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Saturday 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Advanced Enterprise Recycling Facility
DART
540 Doremus Ave
Newark, NJ
1-866-DIAL-IWS
DROP OFF HOURS
Wednesday 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Saturday 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Solid Waste Resources for Essex County
NJ DEP Information
Do you have an environmental emergency? Did you witness and environmental crime? If so call (877) WARN-DEP (877) 972-6337 or visit the N.J. DEP website here.
Essex County Health Department
The Essex County Health Department is responsible for the enforcement of all environmental laws within Essex County including solid waste and recycling compliance.
Learn More >
Solid Waste Management Plan
The Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) is the guiding document for Essex County. It is based upon the rules and regulations set forth in New Jersey’s Statewide SWMP.
View Current Essex County Solid Waste Ordinances:
Waste Management
Advanced Enterprise Recycling
View all NJDEP Certifications of the Essex County SWMP
The ECUA also processes applications for solid waste and recycling facilities for plan inclusion. No solid waste or recycling facility may operate without the ECUA’s approval.To apply visit the following links:
Essex County Hauler Registration Instructions
Single Vehicle Registration PDF
Single Vehicle Registration Word Doc
Multi-Vehicle Registration PDF
Multi-Vehicle Registration Word Doc
Advanced Enterprise Recycling (AERI) New Account Form
The ECUA advises all potential applicants that they must comply with the Environmental Justice Law when applying for Solid Waste Plan inclusion. For details on this law, and how to comply, go to: nj.gov/dep/ej/
Essex County Solid Waste Facilities
Essex County uses the services of three solid waste disposal facilities to ensure the environmentally sound disposal of solid waste:
Hard to dispose of items
FIRE: Rechargeable Batteries are dangerous and can cause fires. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER put any batteries in your recycling containers or in your garbage containers. Visit Call2Recycle’s locator or take to your local household hazardous waste program.
For proper Battery Recycling please follow these steps:
Not sure what kind of battery you have? Check the Call2Recycle Battery I.D Guide.
For more information and resources on battery recycling contact call2recycle at: http://www.call2recycle.org
Call2Recycle Avoid the Spark press release.
These items can contain batteries and hazardous components. They can be brought to one of the semi-annual Essex County e-Waste Collections for safe disposal and recycling.
Essex County Residents Please Remember:
- NEVER place syringes in with your recycling.
- NEVER bring syringes to the Essex County Household Hazard Waste collection event.
- Read the Do’s and Don’ts of Safe Disposal of Needles and Other Sharps prepared by the US FDA.
- Watch this video for an overview of safe needle disposal.
- Read NJDOH’s informative brochure at this link.
Disposal Options:
The best disposal options are:
- Ask your physician if she/he will take your used syringes.
- Ask your local Health Officer if there are any syringe disposal options in your area. This site at the NJ Dept of Health provides contact information for local health departments
- Visit SafeNeedleDisposal.org’s New Jersey page for a list of hospitals and medical facilities in New Jersey that accept syringes
- Utilize a mail back program such as:
https://www.completeneedle.com/
https://www.thinkgreenfromhome.com/SyringesAndLancets.cfm
https://mailback.medprodisposal.com/collections/sharps-disposal-1/
- Click here for a list of companies that offer mail back programs for their syringes
As a Last Resort: Disposal in the Garbage
You may dispose of syringes in the garbage if you:
- Call your town’s Superintendent of Public Works and/or Health Officer for permission and place syringes in rigid containers:
This link to SafeNeedleDisposal.org provides images of proper containers to use.
Visit this website of the US FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) for more information on the proper containers to use.
- Label the Container with a Warning: “SYRINGES – DO NOT RECYCLE!”
Click here for a poster which explains these steps.
- Seal the Bottle
- Ready for Disposal dispose of the tightly sealed full container of syringes in your household garbage
Please do your part to help keep our environment clean and safe.
References:
New Jersey Department of Health, Public Health Sanitation & Safety Program, Medical Waste
US Food & Drug Administration, Safely Using Sharps (Needles and Syringes) at Home, at Work and on Travel
SafeNeedleDisposal.org
Recyclables get compacted and these objects can explode. No tanks of any size whether empty or not, including camping size propane tanks, should be in your curbside pickup.
Never puncture cylinders/tanks containing gases under pressure!
Click here for information and resources for safely disposing of or recycling pressurized containers.
These products are a fire hazard during recycling processing. Hazardous Waste includes common chemicals such as paint, motor oil, some cleansing agents, pesticides, and more.
These items can be brought to an ECUA Hazardous Household Waste (HHW) Collection event.
Appliances
If you are buying a new appliance, ask the vendor to take the old one.
Check with your town’s recycling office to see if they collect these items. These items may be collected during special “bulky waste” or scrap metal collections. Some towns require that you hire a licensed technician to properly remove and certify the refrigerant removal prior to accepting the item from you. Some towns handle the refrigerant removal for you.
Your power company may participate in the NJ Clean Energy’s Appliance Recycling Program. Check to see if your appliances are eligible to participate and if you qualify for a rebate.
Contact a local “scrap metal” company to see if they accept metal items containing refrigerants.
For more information, see “Appliance Disposal” at US EPA FAQ.
Smoke detectors cannot be included in regular garbage, recycling or Household Hazardous Waste collections. To properly dispose/recycle smoke detectors, contact the manufacturer.
Code One/Firex/Maple Chase Products, 2820 Thatcher Road, Downings Grove, IL 60515 Dicon 3334 Main Street, Skokie, IL 60076
First Alert/BRK Brands, 3920 Enterprise Court, Aurora, IL 60504-8132
Gentex Corp. Return Dept., 600 N. Centennial St., Zeeland, MI 49464 616-772-1800
Interactive Technologies 651-777-2690 Call for instructions.
Life Saver/Frynetics, Inc., 1055 Stevenson Court, Suite 102W, Roselle, IL 60172
Nighthawk Systems, 1394 South 3 RD St., Mebane, NC 27302 800-880-6788
Safety’s Sake/Funtech, 388 North Ellicot Creek Rd., Amherst, NY 14228 800-877-1250
Sentrol 503-692-4052
Triad Safety Systems 4595 Airport Rd, Carney, NE 68847 308-236-7062