[greenyes] NYC Back Again

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

NY TIMES - 9/13/04

Mayor Recommits to Ambitious Recycling Pact
By IAN URBINA

he Bloomberg administration announced today that it will sign a 20-year 
contract with one of the nation's largest recycling companies, a move that 
assures the city's broad recommitment to recycling.

The most ambitious component of the plan is the construction of a $45 
million plant on the Brooklyn waterfront to recycle all the city's 
residential metal, glass and plastic, officials said at a news conference 
today at the site.

The announcement comes just two years after the city largely abandoned 
recycling as an economic drain in a time of budget cutbacks. While the 
Bloomberg administration has gradually reinstituted residential recycling 
programs, the contract reflects the administration's bottom-line conclusion: 
as landfill prices increase and technology improves, recycling is the most 
cost-effective way to get rid of much of its garbage.

The commitment to recycling solidifies what has been an on-again, off-again 
program that left New Yorkers guessing from year to year what to do with 
their garbage. The debate has often been positioned between environmental 
concerns and rudimentary questions about whether recycling could ever be 
economically feasible to governments facing tight budgets. With this 
contract, the Bloomberg administration has settled the debate.

Elected officials and industry experts say the city's vote of confidence in 
the virtues of recycling is expected to have profound repercussions 
nationwide as local governments decide whether to pursue aggressive 
recycling programs.

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_________________________
Peter Anderson, President
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING
4513 Vernon Blvd. Suite 15
Madison, WI 53705-4964
Ph: (608) 231-1100
Fax: (608) 233-0011
Cell: (608) 698-1314
eMail: anderson@no.address
web: www.recycleworlds.net