St. John’s University, The Office of Community Relations and the NYC Department of Sanitation are joining forces as part of a citywide recycling initiative called “2008 Spring Cleaning.”

The University’s Queens Campus will serve as a Drop-Off site for the borough on Saturday, May 3 for electronics and gently used clothing and linens. The event will run from 8a.m. to 2p.m.

Everyone in the city and surrounding area is welcome to safely, and legally dispose of their old clothing, computer monitors, keyboards, televisions, and cell phones.

This will be the second event held by the University; the previous recycling day was held on September 29, 2007.

“There were piles of computer monitors ten, twelve feet in the air, wrapped in plastic,” said Kevin Ryan, an Associate in the Office of Community Relations.

Participants were encouraged to bring clothing, but the disposal of old electronics dominated, Ryan said.

According to Ryan, partnering with the NYC Department of Sanitation makes sense for St. John’s University, since it is founded on ideals of service and responsibility for the community at large.

“We’re a Vincentian University,” Ryan said.

“It is part of our mission to take that responsibility.”

While the first event held in the fall did not include any students or student organizations on campus, the Community Relations Office will be reaching out this time around.

“We want to be one of the leading universities in New York City for being environmentally responsible,” Ryan remarked.

All clothing brought to the site on May 3 will be handled by Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc. The Lower East Side Ecology Center will process all of the dropped off electronics. Both of these organizations are sponsors and partners in the event.