New Yorkers Are Being Pressured To Add A Food Recycling Bin And It Will Become Mandatory By 2016

Residents are being pushed to add a new bin for food to their recycling pile. That voluntary participation will change to mandatory by 2015 or 2016, New York magazine reported.

Cheryl K. Chumley "NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Next Mandate: Food Waste Recycling" The Washington Times

"Experts have long criticized recycling as a weak spot in Mr. Bloomberg's environmental record. But he appears to want to close out his tenure with a push to improve the program. In his State of the City address in February, Mr. Bloomberg called food waste 'New York City's final recycling frontier.' We bury 1.2 million tons of food waste in landfills every year at a cost of nearly $80 per ton,' he said. 'That waste can be used as fertilizer or converted to energy at a much lower price. That's good for the environment and for taxpayers.'"

Mireya Navarro, "Bloomberg Plan Aims To Require Food Composting," The New York Times

In July 2013, Bloomberg Announced An Expansion Of New York City's Food Waste Recycling Pilot Program. "Within the next year, New York is preparing to roll out an ambitious plan to get residents and businesses to separate their food waste from other trash - initially on a voluntary basis - as they do their paper, metal, glass and plastics. But already, more than 180 cities and local governments in 18 states offer curbside pickup of food scraps. Now, as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Monday the expansion of the city's pilot program for food waste recycling, those communities may offer lessons to New York as it tries to catch up."

Mireya Navarro, "Plan To Separate Food Waste Will Expand," The New York Times