By Howard Koplowitz
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) unveiled legislation Sunday that she said would improve and expand the city’s recycling program.
“With the 40th anniversary of Earth Day less than two weeks away, this is the perfect time to be looking at ways to make our city even greener,” Quinn said in a statement. “We’re incredibly excited to be introducing a package of bills that will dramatically expand and overhaul the way we recycle here in New York City.”
Part of the legislation would divert over 8,000 tons of plastic every year away from landfills and incinerators. Quinn said that amount equals the trash produced by nearly 10,000 people a year.
The bills also call for the city Sanitation Department to recycle all rigid plastic containers, including yogurt tubes, flower pots and medicine bottles. Currently, the city only recycles plastics such as soda and water bottles, milk jugs and other air-blown containers. The legislation also expands the number of public recycling bins in the city.
Quinn said there are currently about 300 recycling bins in at public spaces around the city and that the new legislation would require Sanitation to add 300 recycling bins over the next three years and 700 bins in the next 10 years.
The bill also creates a citywide textile collection program that would place deposit bins on city-owned or -managed property throughout the city.
Quinn’s legislation also takes steps to improve recycling at city schools and agencies. Under the bill, the city Department of Education would have to require every school to designate a recycling coordinator and provide recycling receptacles in every classroom and at other locations, such as entrances and lunchrooms.
City agencies would also have to designate a recycling coordinator and implement plans to increase recycling in all city-owned and -run buildings.
The plan mandates the city establish a new leaf and yard waste composting facility in Queens and calls on Sanitation to extend the leaf and yard waste collection period from March 1 to Nov. 30.
Quinn’s legislation was co-sponsored by a number of her colleagues, including Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills).
“As consumers and businesses generate more waste each year, this legislation will help make New York City a leader in recycling,” Koslowitz said in a statement. “More specifically, we need to ensure that yard waste will be composted as opposed to being added to our already overcrowded landfills. I am proud to be the sponsor of this legislation, which will make a huge impact towards the livability and sustainability of our great city.”
The city’s recycling program began in 1989.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
