Revamped recycling program back

Real Estate Weekly, July 9, 2003 by Sabina Mollotov

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who last year made a decision to discontinue the recycling of plastic and glass, has put a new and revamped recycling program for plastic back into action on July 1, exactly one year after the recycling of plastic was suspended.

Bloomberg had said that the city's old recycling methods were "labor-intensive" and "not cost effective." However the new plastic recycling program has been described as better and "stronger" by Kathy Dawkins, spokesperson for the Department of Sanitation.

"Last year the mayor said we had to find a better way to collect these items," said Dawkins. "He worked to create a stronger program. He created the atmosphere where we could make the collection of plastic work."

In order to make recycling cost effective enough for the still cash-strapped city, the Department of Sanitation found a vendor willing to pay New York $5 for each ton of plastic collected. According to Dawkins, the suspension of the old program is what freed the department enough to develop the new plan.

As the new recycling laws have just come into effect, there will be a grace period for property owners who aren't recycling properly, although eventually they will get fined if they continue to do so.

"Building owners should know that if they fail to recycle, they'll be issued a summons," said Dawkins. The fines will start at $25, but can get as high as $100 for repeat offenders. However this won't happen until further notice from the department, said Dawkins.

The pick-up schedule is set for alternate weeks starting July 14. By then building managers should have received information from the Dept. of Sanitation detailing what days their recyclables will be collected. The pick-up of plastic won't be happening any more frequently than alternating weeks "for a while."

For building owners and managers, this may mean a hands-on effort to get their residents to recycle -- literally. Besides having to send out notices and post signs listing the specifics of how to recycle, building staffers may have to sort out the recyclables put out by residents before it's picked up, said Nick LaPorte, executive director of ABO (Associated Buildings and Owners of Greater New York).

As for residents who may have gotten lazy about recycling in the past year. there isn't any way to force them to do so legally, s aid LaPorte, although horror stories about tenants who refuse to recycle are rare. Still, as owners will be the ones receiving fines for violations, not tenants, he advises owners and managers to "reinforce the requirements" and wait out the tenant learning curve period, which he said he doesn't expect to last longer than a month.

"Some tenants learn quickly, some don't," said LaPorte. "There's no provision in the law that allows you to penalize the tenants, except advising them with a phone call or slipping a note under the door. It would be nice if there was a fine system in place, but there's not. Is it going to be a pain? Yes, but it's not like there was a total lapse for 100 years, just a short period. The plastic goes into a bin. The end."