New York City Recycles All Hard Plastics

There's been a long-running mini-controversy in Princeton about what plastics are recyclable. The Mercer County program, which Princeton is a part of, asks that people only put plastics #1 and 2 in the curbside bins. But as you can see in this photo taken at the sorting plant our residential recyclables are taken to, a much broader range of plastics are actually being sorted out and, apparently, being recycled. Separate from our residential program, Waste Management accepts plastics #1-7 from downtown businesses.

In another example of the nationwide shift to recycling a greater range of plastics, New York City has begun collecting all hard plastics for recycling. For New Yorkers, according to Mayor Bloomberg, “There is no more worrying about confusing numbers on the bottom of the container. This means that 50,000 tons of plastics that we were sending to landfills every year will now be recycled and it will save taxpayers almost $600,000 in export costs each year.” A NY Times article on the new policy can be found here.

What's driving this shift, which Princeton's recycling program through Mercer County has long resisted for reasons unclear, is improvements in sorting technology. As an example, New York City's new policy was made possible through "a partnership with SIMS Municipal Recycling whose recycling facilities are equipped to handle the broad range of plastic recycling."

Complementing this new policy, Mayor Bloomberg proposed banning plastic foam containers, which are the least welcome form of hard plastics at recycling facilities.

New York City is no leader in recycling. Mayor Bloomberg is still digging out of the hole he dug earlier in his 11 year tenure as mayor, when he cut back on recycling service, thinking it would save money. But the approach they are now using, of expanding accepted recyclables while seeking to curtail packaging that is inconvenient to recycle, is worth emulating.

Some previous posts researching where Princeton's recyclables go, and the contrast between the county's list of accepted recyclables and the larger selection accepted by the contracted hauler and sorting plant, can be found here and here. And typing the word "recycling" in the search box at the top of this blog will yield many posts on the subject.