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City Opts For Blue And Green to Clean Up

By

Jen Chung

Published Mar 29, 2007

Modified Mar 7, 2008

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By

Jen Chung

Published Mar 29, 2007

Modified Mar 7, 2008

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2007_03_bluegreen.gifThe city launched a new Public Space Recycling pilot program yesterday that puts blue and green recycling cans in high traffic areas in hopes that people will dump their newspapers and empty glass bottles in their instead of regular trash bins. The program will start in April and last through June, and Mayor Bloomberg said, "The most important thing is, if this works, it will let us do something much more ambitious citywide and really make a difference in how much we recycle, and how environmentally friendly this city is."

The NY Times had some interesting statistics about citywide recycling since the 1990s: Recycling hit a high of 21% in 2001, but dropped to a low of 12.2% (when the Mayor eliminated glass and plastic recycling, perhaps) and is now around 16-17%.

2007_03_bluegreen2.gifHere is where the six pilot locations are:

We're happy to separate our garbage, but there's one key to really making this program work: Collecting the recyclables so that they don't overflow. Actually, if there's some way to increase collections from all city trash cans (and trash cans on subway platforms), that would help clean things up overall, too.

For more information about the new program, go to NYCWasteLe$$.

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Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

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