Officials announced the expansion of the city’s organic food waste recycling program and a new public information campaign Monday in an effort to significantly increase the recycling rate within the next few years.
“The ‘Recycle Everything’ ad campaign and the expansion of our organic food waste recycling program shows how far New York has come in managing the 11,000 tons of waste generated every day,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Together, these initiatives will help us double our recycling rate by 2017 and reduce the amount of trash sent to landfills.”
These recycling policies will save at least $60 million in taxpayer money, according to the mayor.
Beginning as a pilot in 90 Manhattan public schools, the voluntary organic food recycling program was later expanded to residents in Westerleigh, Staten Island and the Morningside Gardens apartment high rises. At those Manhattan housing complexes, the total weight of trash has dropped 35 percent and households are recycling about one pound of food scraps each day, Bloomberg said.
This fall, the program will be extended to neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx. It will come to Beechurst, Bay Terrace, Cambria Heights, Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village in Queens, and more areas of Staten Island this spring
By 2014, the program is expected to reach 100,000 residents, according to city officials.
Bloomberg also announced the new “Recycle Everything” public information campaign Monday that highlights what New Yorkers can recycle.
In addition to extending the food waste pilot, in March, the city’s recycling program was expanded to include all rigid plastics.
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