Courtesy, New York City Sanitation Department
A pilot program is already a success, the
city says. Advertisement
A proposal in front of the New York City Council would allow the city's sanitation commissioner to establish a voluntary residential organic collection pilot program.
The program would start no later than Sept. 1 and would run until at least July 1, 2015, according to the proposal.
The pilot program's size is up to the commissioner, but cannot be fewer than two of the city's five boroughs and less than 30 schools in the city. Those are minimums; the actual program size will be much bigger.
"We are planning to expand the pilot collection program for single-family homes and high-rise buildings to select neighborhoods in all five boroughs," Ron Gonen, New York City's deputy commissioner of sanitation, recycling and sustainability, said in an email to Waste & Recycling News. "We collected organics from over 90 schools during the 2012-13 school year and plan to expand to over 200 schools during the next school year."
At the conclusion of the pilot, the sanitation commissioner must submit a report on implementing a citywide residential organic collection program.
The City Council is expected to discuss the matter during a meeting today.
The city currently is running a small-scale pilot in Staten Island, and they've considered it a success after one month.
Updated at 1:35 p.m. with details on the size of the pilot program.
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