Dive Brief:
- New York City launched its rigid plastics recycling collection initiative in the spring of 2013.
- The city has been successful in its campaign to divert plastics Nos. 3-7 from ending up buried at landfills.
- A collaborative effort among different groups involved in the city’s recycling efforts led to the positive outcome of the initiative to this point.
Dive Insight:
Key partners include the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY), Sims Municipal Recycling- the contracted recycling processor for NYC, and KW Plastics, a buyer of PP and HDPE plastics from New York City.
The push to include more plastics in curbside collections was initiated by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Sims made changes to their sorters to incorporate machinery that could process different types of plastics, leading to a 10% increase in volume since NYC adopted the expanded plastics pick-up.
