Eco-conscious New Yorkers, take heart: that confusing plastic recycling system is no more.

City residents will no longer have to remember what it means when the bottom of their iced coffee cups has a triangle-bound one or two or three: the Department of Sanitation has a new system that can take any and all hard plastics.

“Previous New Yorkers could only recycle plastic ones and twos, which were essentially just plastic bottles,” explained Ron Gonen, the city’s deputy commissioner of sanitation, recycling, and sustainability.

Now, he says, the recycling system can process cups, containers, toys, laundry bottles, even plastic bottle caps—any rigid plastic can go in with metal and glass recyclables.

If the object can be ripped or torn, however, Gonen asks that it be placed in a separate receptacle for paper recyclables.

There are a few things that still can’t be recycled: plastic shopping bags, which can be returned to any grocery store citywide; styrofoam; and plastic wrapping.

It is especially important to avoid including styrofoam, Gonen cautioned, as it can break the recycling machinery.

But “every other kind of plastic that’s out there,” Gonen said, “We ask that people please put it in their recycling containers, because now we can keep it out of landfills.”

Gonen is hoping that simplifying the plastic system will result in more metals and glass being recycled as well.

The Department of Sanitation recycling program expects to collect over 50,000 tons of additional material per year due to the inclusion of all these plastics, as well as save the city over $600,000 a year in costs typically associated with landfills.

The city’s landfills are located in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and the city must pay to put waste into those landfills, as well as cover the cost of the truck, barge or train that transports the waste there to return to the city.

New Yorkers are urged to recycle paper as well: the recycling of paper apparently brings in significant revenue for the city.

Ultimately, Gonen said, the benefits of recycling don’t just stop at the environment: it saves tax dollars and and contributes to local employment, as our recycling facilities are based in Staten Island and Brooklyn.

What can be recycled?

GOOD:

• all rigid plastics: iced coffee cups, yogurt containers, laundry bottles, broken toys, etc.
• paper: anything that can be ripped or torn, even paper towels with a little bit of food on them
• metals
• glass

BAD:

• plastic wrap
• plastic bags — return to any grocery store in the city instead
• styrofoam
• significantly dirty paper towels, with more than a little bit of food on it—but as the city expands the compost program, New Yorkers will be able to put these in with “organics”

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post NYC now recycling almost all plastic appeared first on Metro.us.

This Earth Day, you can get restaurant vouchers or even gift cards for simply doing something you might already do – recycling.

Organizers have set up a program to redeem bottles for giveaways in Union Square on Sunday, when a 30-foot bin will be constructed in what Earth Day New York hopes will serve as a beacon for potential recyclers.

The Great Recycle kicked off last year, and more than 18,000 bottles of Honest Tea were collected. The company now takes the event around the country, touring and taking bottles.

Anyone bringing an empty bottle can use it as currency: T-shirts, restaurant gift cards and bikes will all be items people can trade for their recyclables.

For example, one bottle might redeem stickers, but 1,000 bottles could get you a Zac Brown Band guitar.

Another company, SpinGreen, will accept clothing donations and recycle them to ensure they do not end up in landfills.

Anything in good condition will be given to someone else in need, organizers said. If the item is not salvageable, it can be recycled into an organic product like a car seat.

And if that toaster finally has to go, Tekovery will be collecting small appliances.

The post Trade in your recyclables for prizes at Earth Day event appeared first on Metro.us.

A pilot program in lower Manhattan is testing purportedly bombproof recycling containers. One of the containers was placed near the Stock Exchange last spring, and its manufacturer, a London based company called Renew, hopes to install additional ones later this year.

Renew asserts that among the container’s security features is “the ability to inform the public and lock down on a moment’s notice.”

These containers were installed in London prior to the Olympic Games last year. One is located outside the Aldgate underground station in east London, where the July 7 suicide bomb attacks killed 52 in 2005.

Officials in London have generally been reluctant to place trash cans in high-traffic areas, largely due to bombs threats from the Irish Republican Army.

A garbage can was reportedly used as an accelerant for one of the bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday. While Boston police officials said there was no evidence the devices were inside trash cans when they blew up, they may have been placed in a nylon bag on the ground next to a trash can, ABC News reported.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post Bombproof recycling bins being tested in Manhattan appeared first on Metro.us.

Now you have a place to recycle your Metro at the Crossroads of the World.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a slew of new recycling spots today in Times Square.

The pilot program will bring 30 solar-powered recycling stations to Times Square, along Seventh Avenue and Broadway between 42nd and 47th streets.

The receptacles will replace 53 trash bins, according to the mayor’s office.

The heavily trafficked area generates 15,300 pounds – that’s about 900 bags of garbage – each day, Bloomberg said.

“Times Square is a global destination,” said Ron Gonen, the Department of Sanitation’s deputy commissioner for recycling and sustainability. “That means that there is a tremendous amount of paper as well as bottles and cans often left behind.”

The new receptacles will compact items like cans and bottles and paper as well as garbage.

The post Times Square becomes hub for recycling program appeared first on Metro.us.

In his final State of the City address on Thursday, Mayor Bloomberg will propose a ban on plastic foam, forcing eateries around the city to restock to-go containers and school cafeterias to ditch plastic-foam trays, The New York Times reports.

The Sanitation Department had introduced the idea of a plastic-foam ban to reporters earlier this month.

Plastic-foam, commonly known by the brand Styrofoam, has been targeted by environmentalists because it is too difficult to recycle and takes years to break down in the trash. Bloomberg announced last year a goal to double the city’s recycling to 30 percent by 2017.

The ban would need approval from the City Council in order to become law. In Bloomberg’s last year as mayor, the ban would be yet another on a list of controversial bans, following large sugary drinks, smoking in parks and trans fats.

The mayor’s address, scheduled for noon, is also expected to include a proposal add 10,000 parking spaces for electric cars and a pilot program aimed towards citywide recycling of food waste.

The post Bloomberg to propose plastic foam ban in State of the City appeared first on Metro.us.