Recycling Program Expands to Include All Rigid Plastics

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg recently announced the largest expansion of the city's recycling program since Mayor Koch launched curbside recycling 25 years ago. The expansion of plastics recycling is part of the city’s Solid Waste Management Plan. “Starting today, if it’s a rigid plastic – any rigid plastic – recycle it,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “There is no more worrying about confusing numbers on the bottom of the container. This means that 50,000 tons of plastics that we were sending to landfills every year will now be recycled and it will save taxpayers almost $600,000 in export costs each year.”

The city will send decals to landlords to replace the current labels on their recycling bins. The new program has already started, although the city won’t begin enforcement until rules are adopted in July. The expansion of the recycling program is part of the city’s comprehensive 20-year Solid Waste Management Plan and is the largest expansion of the city’s recycling efforts since.

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