Waste & Recycling | sustainable-nyc

Take advantage of the resources and programs in NYC that help you recycle or properly dispose of more types of waste and unwanted products

Think Beyond Basic Paper/Mixed Recycling

Grownyc states that the average New Yorker throws out 46 pounds of clothing into the trash every year.
Instead, you can drop off unwanted textiles at specific Greenmarkets listed on their website
Alternatively, you can reach out to re-fashioNYC to set up collection bins in your building. That way you can encourage your friends and neighbors to participate in the convenient program.

Instead of sending it into the landfills, composting allows food waste to be used as fertilizer for local farms and gardens
You can reach out to the sanitation department to set up a NYC Organics Collection in your building. Make sure to use approved compostable liners in the Organics bins, and to inform your neighbors about the collection times.
You can also deposit your food waste directly to the Greenmarkets. Make sure you first check their guidelines for what can be composted, and the locations that accept food scrap deposits.

The Department of Sanitation runs a number of programs in addition to re-fashioNYC and the NYC Organics Collection, which include the disposal of harmful objects and recycling of electronics
They also developed the NYC Stuff Exchange which helps New Yorkers donate, buy, sell, or rent gentlly used household items
GrowNYC has a similar system called Stop and Swap, which allows people to re-use items within their community
Using those programs not only helps reduce landfill waste, but also gets people to rethink the relationship that they have with the things they own.