New York dumpster and disposal rules
New York has no single banned-materials list. Its prohibitions sit in separate laws, and the one that catches most renovation loads is the electronics ban — which closes waste-to-energy plants as well as landfills. Looking for a New York ban list and finding nothing is the normal experience; the rules are real but they are not collected in one place.
How New York controls what you can throw away
Under the Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act, covered electronic equipment has been refused at solid waste facilities, hazardous waste facilities, landfills and waste-to-energy plants since 15 January 2015. Covered equipment means computers, computer peripherals, televisions and small electronic equipment, with manufacturers required to fund free and convenient take-back for New York consumers. The waste-to-energy half of that ban is the part worth knowing: incineration is the route people assume remains open for a broken television, and in New York it does not.
Citation: ECL 27-2611; 6 NYCRR 368-3.13
Materials banned from disposal
- Covered electronic equipment — computers, computer peripherals, televisions and small electronic equipment, since 15 January 2015
What this means for how you order a container
Because manufacturers must fund take-back, the compliant route is normally free — which makes this one of the few prohibitions where doing it correctly costs less than doing it wrongly. Pull the screens out before the container is collected and the rest of a renovation load is unaffected.
One caution: This page covers the electronics ban only. New York regulates other streams — food scraps from designated generators, and construction and demolition debris under 6 NYCRR Part 360 — in separate rules we have not yet read at the source, so this page does not speak for them.
Materials with a New York-specific answer
- Prohibited
Televisions, monitors and electronics
Old tube televisions and monitors contain leaded glass in the cathode ray tube, and roughly half the states restrict electronics from landfill disposal. Massachusetts bans CRTs specifically. Assume no, and check your state before you put a screen of any kind in a container.
North Carolina: Discarded televisions and computer equipment are both banned. Mice and keyboards stopped being covered devices on 16 March 2015. (N.C.G.S. 130A-309.10)
Massachusetts: Cathode ray tubes — televisions and computer monitors — are banned materials. (310 CMR 19.017)
New York: Covered electronic equipment — computers, computer peripherals, televisions and small electronic equipment — has been refused at solid waste facilities, hazardous waste facilities, landfills and waste-to-energy plants since 15 January 2015. (ECL 27-2611; 6 NYCRR 368-3.13)
We have not verified this material against your state’s own regulator. That means unknown, not allowed — check with your state before you load it.
Varies by state Electronics NC, MA, NY
How New York compares with the other states we have read
A state rule only means something next to another one. The table shows every state whose rules we have read at the agency that issued them, with how many materials each one changes the answer for — which is the fastest way to see whether you are in a strict jurisdiction or a permissive one.
| State | Regulator | Materials it changes | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | Florida DEP | 5 | Fla. Stat. 403.708(12) |
| New York this page | NYSDEC | 1 | ECL 27-2611; 6 NYCRR 368-3.13 |
| Illinois | Illinois EPA | 6 | Illinois EPA — Disposal Methods |
| Michigan | Michigan EGLE | 2 | NREPA 1994 PA 451, Part 115, s. 11514 |
| Pennsylvania | PA DEP | 5 | 25 Pa. Code s. 273.201 |
| Ohio | Ohio EPA | 2 | ORC 3734.911 |
| Georgia | Georgia EPD | 3 | O.C.G.A. 12-8-40.2 |
| North Carolina | NCDEQ | 11 | N.C.G.S. 130A-309.10 |
| Massachusetts | MassDEP | 14 | 310 CMR 19.017 |
| California | CalRecycle | 1 | CALGreen — California Green Building Standards Code |
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin DNR | 0 | Wis. Stat. ch. 289 |
Three states is deliberately few. A state appears here only after its rule was read at the issuing agency, because the alternative — restating what other sites say about the other forty-seven — is how wrong answers spread. States not listed are unverified, never permitted.
What this does not tell you
A state rule sets the floor, not the whole answer. Your city can be stricter, and the permit for putting a container in the street is a municipal matter that has nothing to do with NYSDEC — different department, different timetable, different document. And the prohibited-items list attached to your rental agreement is stricter again in almost every case, because a hauler refuses things no statute mentions.
The practical order is therefore: check the state rule for what is banned outright, check your city for whether placement needs a permit, and read the rental agreement for everything else. Only the first of those three is on this page, and it is the one that changes least often.
There is also a limit on what any state page can tell you about money. Statutory fees per ton are public and cited above where they exist, but the gate rate a facility actually charges is a commercial price negotiated per account, and it is the larger of the two numbers. A state can tell you what surcharge rides on every ton; only a hauler can tell you what the ton costs.
What a state page is genuinely good for is the question of whether your load is legal at all, and that is worth checking before you order rather than after the truck has gone. A banned material found at the disposal facility is rejected against the account that hired the container, and the reason enforcement lands there rather than in your driveway is that the facility is the party whose permit is at risk.
Sources
- Primary source Electronic Waste Requirements for Solid/Hazardous Waste Facilities and Haulers/Transporters — New York State Department of Environmental Conservation · last reviewed 2026-08-19
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