City Councilmembers Peter F. Vallone Jr., Jessica Lappin, Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committee Chair Letitia James met in Astoria Park on May 10 to announce the new comprehensive legislative package to expand and improve recycling programs in Queens and the other boroughs. Photo William Alatriste New York City Council Following the introduction of a comprehensive legislative package to expand and improve recycling programs in the five boroughs, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, together with Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committee Chair Letitia James, City Councilmember Jessica Lappin and City Councilmember Peter F. Vallone Jr. joined the announcement at Astoria Park on May 10 to discuss important legislation that will expand the number of recycling bins in public locations. The administration and the council selected Astoria Park in 2007 as a location for a public spaces recycling pilot program.

Currently, there are approximately 300 recycling bins at public spaces throughout the city providing New Yorkers with more opportunities to deposit glass, paper, plastic and aluminum recyclables in parks and other highly visited areas. The new legislation would require the Department of Sanitation (DOS) to greatly expand the number of recycling bins in or near public parks and other highly trafficked areas.

“Next time you walk through your local park or down a major commercial strip, take a quick glance into one of the public waste baskets. I guarantee you it will be brimming with newspapers, magazines, plastic bottles and soda cans,” Quinn said. “All of which can and should be recycled.”

Similar to existing containers, the bins would be distinctively colored and placed near existing wastebaskets.

“I am excited to join my colleagues in promoting the public spaces recycling legislation,” James said. “Astoria Park, as well as Fort Greene Park in the 35th Council District are perfect examples of how the city council has followed through with improvements to make it easier for everyone in New York City to recycle.”

The city of New York enacted its first comprehensive residential recycling law, commonly known as Local Law 19, in 1989. The law was one of the first of its kind in the United States, and its sheer scale, which involved collecting recyclables from every residential building in the city of New York, and mandating collection from every commercial building, made it among the most ambitious recycling programs in the world. Within ten years of its enactment, the city of New York increased its residential recycling rate from less than one percent to more than 20 percent.

“We want people to be able to recycle more things in more places. That’s what we’re trying to do here,” Lappin, lead sponsor of the bill said. “We know that people will recycle if they have the opportunity, but that too often it just isn’t possible when you’re walking down the street. By expanding public space recycling, we’ll ensure that New Yorkers who want to do the right

thing actually can.”

In addition to the public spaces recycling legislation, the comprehensive recycling package features several new programs that include expanded plastic recycling. Currently, the city only recycles plastics made of types 1 and 2. This is largely limited to air blown containers with narrow tops, such as soda and water bottles or milk jugs. As a result, a significant percentage of recyclable plastic items, are simply not recycled. The new legislation would require DOS to begin recycling all rigid plastic containers, including items such as yogurt tubs, take out containers, flower pots and medicine bottles. It takes 88% less energy to produce plastics from recycled materials than it does to produce new plastics, and this expansion would divert over 8,000 tons of plastic each year from landfills and incinerators. This component of the bill would take effect following the 2012 opening of a new recycling facility in Brooklyn.

“Just like our plastic recycling laws, we need to do everything we can to give people the opportunity to help the environment,” Vallone said. “Now our residents can properly recycle a water bottle, instead of tossing it in garbage bin[s], where it will exist for centuries to come.”

There will be a mandate focusing on at least one department-sponsored household hazardous waste collection event in each borough every year, with a longterm goal of increasing the number of events, or making such sites permanent.

The new legislation would establish a voluntary manufacturer and retailer take-back program for unwanted household paint, which makes up about 50% of household hazardous waste. It would also require every school within the Department of Education (DOE) to designate a recycling coordinator and to provide recycling receptacles in each classroom and other locations such as entrances and lunchrooms. Similar requirements would also apply to non-DOE schools.

Each agency would be required to designate a recycling coordinator and implement plans to increase recycling in all city-owned and city-run buildings.

The legislation also extends the DOS collection period from March 1 through November 30, and require the city to establish a new leaf and yard waste composting facility in Queens or Brooklyn.

The original Local Law 19 set mandates requiring DOS to recycle a fixed number of tons of waste per year. These mandates were set at a time when the city produced substantially more waste than it does today and continuing reductions in the city’s waste stream have prevented the city from ever meeting the targets. The new legislation would replace this single vague mandate, with a series of more specific requirements and a more sensible methodology for calculating diversion rates. For example, instead of measuring recycling in sheer tons, which are likely to continue decreasing as the amount of waste decreases; it would establish a set of recycling percentage diversion goals.

Historically, fines for improper recycling have been set at the same amount for large residential and commercial buildings as for single family homes. This has caused homeowners to bear a disproportionate percentage of recycling fines. The new legislation would establish two tiers for fines with the first for residential buildings with one to eight units, and the second for buildings with nine or more units, as well as non-residential buildings.

First-time offenders in a one to eight unit residency will have the option to attend recycling workshops in lieu of paying fines. Also requires DOS to provide training for owners and employees of buildings with nine or more units that receive three tickets in one year.

The DOS will also create a guide to the residential recycling program, to be made available to the public.

In the final analysis, these bills will divert over 8,000 tons of plastic every year away from landfills and incinerators, equal to the amount of trash produced by nearly 10,000 people each year.

“It takes the city one step closer to a greener tomorrow,” City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer said.