Bloomberg Launches 'Recycle Everything' Campaign

Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched the “Recycle Everything” campaign today. The new initiative will promote new recycling techniques like residential food composting and the recycling of electronics and rigid plastics across the five boroughs.

At a press conference, the mayor said the new program will double the city’s recycling rate to 30 percent by 2017. 

“The bottom line is we can do an awful lot better,” he said. “This saves us money and it dramatically makes the environment that our kids are going to inherit from us better. It’s kind of hard to argue that you shouldn’t do this.”

The city’s organic food waste recycling pilot program, which began in Staten Island and in some Manhattan high rises and city public schools, is heading toward the Bronx, and to parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn this fall. It is voluntary now, but is expected to be mandatory by 2016.

Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty said his department will provide new composting information to residents and will monitor food scrap intake. “It's only going to be a success if the people want to do it. It's so difficult for them to recycle,” he said. 

This year also saw the launch of the Re-Fashion campaign, a program designed to recycle clothing and textiles. A new e-cycle program will also begin in September. According to the mayor, the program will be the largest electronics recycling service in the United States.