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Our Parks Are (Allegedly) Not Recycling
By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 9, 2009
Modified Nov 9, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 9, 2009
Modified Nov 9, 2009
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Those recyclables you're throwing away in the designated recycling bins at city parks... well, they're probably just going straight to the landfills. The NY Post reports that during their investigation they found that "not only are routine recyclables like bottles, cans and paper being sent to landfills, but so is other waste that is supposed to be trashed separately, such as animal carcasses, medical waste and bins of used kitchen oil." Who goes to the park to throw away their animal carcasses? Those are for the East River!
A Parks employee told the paper that supervisors give orders to "dump everything on garbage trucks, because it's the fastest solution for cleaning parks." Oh dear, someone alert the Shame Shame Shame crew about this!
On top of all that, not even all parks are set up for recycling. Geoffrey Croft, of the watchdog group New York City Park Advocates, said of the 1,875 parks citywide only a small amount have recycling bins, to which a Parks Department spokeswoman declared the department is "committed to recycling."
Tagged
Landfill
parks department
recycle
recycling
trash
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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