Great article in the NY Times detailing how the city has expanded its recycling program to include all hard plastics (including toys)!
“Starting today,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference in City Hall Park, “if it’s a rigid plastic -– any rigid plastic -– recycle it.”
The city announced the biggest expansion of its recycling program in 25 years on Wednesday, saying all hard plastics would be accepted. This includes shampoo bottles and clothes hangers as well as countless toys and other household objects.
The city is also hoping that simplifying the plastic-recycling system will encourage more New Yorkers to recycle all kinds of waste — including paper, which, unlike other recyclables, the city is able to sell — and further reduce the city’s carbon footprint.
“Right now, a lot of people don’t recycle at all because the plastic part is so complicated,” said Ron Gonen, the Sanitation Department’s deputy commissioner for recycling.