New York's sanitation department last week suspended collection of plastic items, glass and beverage cartons. It will continue to collect paper and metal.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg insisted that plastic and glass recycling would be reinstated after one and two years respectively, to allow time to find more efficient ways of handling the materials. But environmental groups and political opponents fear that once lost, the recycling services may not return.
The city has collected more than 320,000 tons a year of glass, metal and plastic.
Plastics and glass
Mr Bloomberg, who is grappling with a budget deficit of $5 billion (3.3 billion), believes that ending plastic and glass recycling will save some $40 million (26 million).
“The city was faced with some very difficult budget decisions and we worked with the city council to temporarily modify our recycling programme,” said Mr Bloomberg.
“These changes were made with great difficulty. We all want recycling to work. But the more labour-intensive and less efficient recycling of glass and plastic items, for which there are not current markets, is not cost-effective.
Therefore the city is discontinuing the programme temporarily until we can create an effective and efficient system for recycling glass and plastic.”
Commitment
Mr Bloomberg insisted: “Our commitment to recycling is just as strong as ever. We're just trying to be practical.”
A decision that recycling bags that contain any glass or plastic items will be left at the kerbside for residents to “properly sort the contents”, has also come under fire.
City council member Michael McMahon, head of the committee on sanitation and solid waste, said: “People are going to put out the trash and it's not going to be picked up, and they're going to be angry.”
He has called on New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer to prosecute Mr Bloomberg over the changes, which may infringe state law.
Two years ago, Mr Spitzer sued the city authorities of Amsterdam, New York, when they tried to drop their recycling programme. This was reinstated to avoid legal penalties.
Part of the controversy in New York is over whether most glass and plastic has in fact been recycled.
City authorities estimate that the cost of glass, metal and plastic recycling is $240 per ton (160), while conventional landfill disposal is about $130 per ton (86). The paper recycling programme costs only $87 (58) a ton.
The city’s Department of Sanitation estimates that 40% of glass, metal and plastic waste is not suitable for recycling and so is a landfilled anyway.
A further problem is that collecting and sorting recyclable materials is highly labour intensive in a city with high wage costs.
Trade unions have predicted the loss of 200 jobs from among the 1,000 people employed in recycling.
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