Manhattanites now have 33 new public places where they can bring their recyclables as part of an expansion of a pilot recycling program that began in March 2007, when 126 blue and green recycling bins were placed in high-traffic areas at 10 sites throughout the city. New York City residents are required by law to recycle at home, so it’s about time they were given the ability to do it in public, too.
From Gothamist:
Starting yesterday, an additional 105 blue and green bins can be found throughout all five boroughs. The mayor’s office stressed that the expansion comes at minimal cost to taxpayers through the use of existing Department of Sanitation collection resources and partnerships with 18 Business Improvement Districts. Bloomberg said yesterday that “the key to maintaining the City’s high quality of life—even during tough times—is learning to do more with less. Because of careful planning by the Sanitation Department, this expansion of public recycling will have virtually no impact on the City’s budget.”
This is great, but… doesn’t the NYC city council realize that you can’t paper that has gotten wet? The paper recycling bins are open to the sky. That means a whole lot of well-meaning people are going to be bringing their newspapers and other recyclable paper to these bins, and they’ll end up getting thrown away anyway. A Gothamist commenter suggested putting the bins on the subway platforms. Makes sense to us.
See the list of places where the new bins have been added at Gothamist.
Link [Gothamist]
