NEW YORK—Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Speaker Christine Quinn were out at City Hall Park on Monday morning hanging around some trash bins. They announced that the City’s successful street corner public space recycling program is being expanded to 33 new locations throughout the five boroughs. City Hall Park included.
As of Monday, a total of 105 new colorful blue and green recycling bins will be positioned around the City so recyclable materials will not be deposited in street corner litter baskets.
The Public Space Recycling Pilot is part of the City’s landmark Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) that provides an efficient and environmentally sound method for handling the City’s waste.
The addition of bins is not going to hurt, or really touch taxpayer’s pocket books. The expansion comes at minimal cost to city taxpayers through the use of existing Department of Sanitation collection resources and partnerships with 18 Business Improvement Districts.
“The key to maintaining the City’s high quality of life, even during tough times, is learning to do more with less,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Because of careful planning by the Sanitation Department, this expansion of public recycling will have virtually no impact on the City’s budget. We’re adding 33 new sites to the 10 existing public locations where New Yorkers can recycle newspapers, magazines, and bottles and cans. It’s a prime example of how we’re continuing to improve New York’s quality of life even as City agencies tighten their belts to deal with the current downturn in our economy.”
“Whether at home or on the street, New Yorkers want to recycle, and by expanding the Public Space Recycling Program we’re giving them even more opportunities to be environmentally responsible,” said Speaker Quinn.
The large blue recycling bins collect metal, glass and plastic containers and green bins accept newspapers and other paper products that previously had been deposited into the City’s 25,000 street corner litter baskets.
“Last year, the DSNY collected 1.7 million tons of recyclables - about 16 percent of our residential waste. With these additions to the Public Space Recycling program, we expect to increase public awareness of the fact that recycling is one way to make our city cleaner, greener and healthier,” said Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty.
There are eight new public space recycling locations in Brooklyn, three in Queens, three in Staten Island, five in the Bronx and 14 in Manhattan that reach all the way from the Whitehall Ferry Terminal all the way up to 125th Street in Harlem. See www.nyc.gov for exact locations.
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