Make cash at your computer for Prospect Park by throwing the computer away.
Park lovers have a new way to donate to Brooklyn’s backyard — and it will not cost them a dime. This Sunday and Monday, residents can unload their old, broken, or unused computers, televisions, and other electronic gadgets at the park during the first so-called “upcyclying fest” that will turn the gadgets into cold, hard cash to keep the green space beautiful.
“Upcycling in Prospect Park allows New Yorkers an opportunity to recycle their old electronics sustainably, while at the same time raising funds that help the Alliance maintain ball fields and playgrounds, restore historical structures and landscapes, and protect wildlife habitats,” said Alliance president Emily Lloyd.
Organizers of the Oct. 27 and 28 event promise that the tossed gadgets will not end up in landfills and will ultimately benefit the City Parks Foundation and the Prospect Park Alliance, which manages the park.
Causes International, the company running the Upcycle Fest, will collect participants’ unwanted electronics including cellphones, computers, laptops, fax machines, video games, scanners, iPods, televisions, video cameras, and video game consoles.
The gadgets will be wiped clean of all data, then shipped to processing facilities where they will either be safely disposed of or repurposed and resold, the Massachusetts-based company said. The money made from reselling the products collected at the event will be donated to the Prospect Park Alliance and the City Parks Foundation, according to organizers.
“You can double the environmental impact by keeping toxins from poisoning our world; you can create charitable giving without writing a check; and everything you donate is tax-deductible,” said Julie Shane, founder of the Causes International.
Shane said that, depending on how many residents and businesses toss their old electronics at the event, the event could net the parks organizations a haul in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Upcycle at Prospect Park (Third Street entrance near Prospect Park West; Willink entrance; Grand Army Plaza entrance, www.prospectpark.org). Oct. 27, 9 am–2 pm. Oct. 28, 8 am–2 pm.
