4th Bin

Specialties

The 4^th Bin is the only company in New York City providing door-​to-​door pickups of electronic waste (e-​waste) for residents and businesses alike.

History

Established in 2009.

The concept for The 4^th Bin began as an open competition to design an electronic waste (e-​waste) logo and a rescue bin for the collection of e-​waste. We hoped this would inspire municipalities and waste management companies to add e-​waste to their recycling programs and raise overall awareness of hazards of e-​waste. As the competition progressed, we discovered that the existing systems for reusing and recycling public and private sector e-​waste are underdeveloped and that there are few controls on current systems to ensure that toxic materials are handled in ethical and environmentally responsible ways (see What Is E-​Waste?). Though the City of New York has passed a law for 2010 initiating fines for mixing e-​waste with regular trash, there is currently no simple and inexpensive way to recycle or reuse discarded electronics.

Meet the Business Owner

John K.

Business Owner

John along with Thomas Clancy Jr., came up with The 4^th Bin concept in 2008 as a reaction to the growing problem of e-​waste collection in New York City. This lack of any real e-​waste system inspired them to launch an international design competition aptly named Design The 4^th Bin. Prior to The 4^th Bin John was the Director of Marketing and Business Development for the Control Group Inc., a New York City-​based enterprise technology and software development firm. He spent five years working for Addison Design, managing their IT infrastructure for their three offices, located in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. He has served as Board of Director for Open House New York since 2008, and sits on Public School 8’s Executive Board.