NYC Mayor Considers Cutting Back Recycling Program

Environmentalists criticized the mayor's new proposal to suspend the recycling of metal, glass and plastic in the city as a way to help eliminate a $4.76 billion budget deficit.

"We think the plan ... is outrageous," said Keri Powell, a staff attorney with the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Kate Krebs, of the National Recycling Coalition in Alexandria, Va., said she Wednesday that she hadn't heard of any other major American city cutting back on recycling programs.

"I believe consumers and residents, wherever they are, want to recycle," she said. "More people recycle than vote."

The proposal, part of a $41.4 billion budget proposal Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced Wednesday, calls for an 18-month suspension of metal, glass and plastic recycling. Bloomberg said the move would save the city $57 million. Paper recycling would continue.

The city faces a $4.76 billion budget deficit, exacerbated by a weak economy and the World Trade Center attack. Bloomberg is calling for deep cuts across all programs in what he called "a spread your pain, no sacred cow" proposal.

Much of the recycling program is costly and inefficient, he said.

Glass, metal and plastic recycling costs $240 per ton, the mayor's office said, far more than the $130 per ton for simple trash disposal. The paper program costs $87 per ton.