New York City Expanding Municipal Recycling Service To Now Accept All Plastics, Even Toys
April 30, 2013 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
New York City selected the 30th Street Pier in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, as the location for a new state-of-the-art recycling facility to be built and operated by Sims Municipal Recycling. The facility is slated to open in Summer 2013 and will process the majority of New York City’s commingled curbside material. Rendering courtesy of Sims Municipal Recycling.
We all know how confusing it can be trying to figure out what plastics you can and can’t recycle, but at least in New York City, it’s about to get a little easier for residents.
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last week, that effective immediately, the city for the first time will allow residents to recycle all rigid plastics, including toys, hangers, shampoo bottles, coffee cups, and food containers. Until now, only plastics bottles and jugs were allowable.
The new service is part of the city’s partnership with Sims Municipal Recycling. The Bloomberg Administration says the recycling expansion will result in the removal of about 50,000 tons of waste from landfills every year and save “city taxpayers almost $600,000 each year in export costs.”
The administration says this is part of the city’s commitment to double its “recycling rate to 30 percent by 2017.” For the next few months, much of the recycling will go to the Sims-operated Claremont Recycling Center in Jersey City, N.J.