NYC mayor unveils sweeping environmental plan on Earth Day

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JONATHAN LEMIRE

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's biggest city, in a far-reaching effort to limit its impact on the environment, marked Earth Day on Wednesday by announcing a plan to reduce its waste output by 90 percent by 2030.

Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled his sweeping OneNYC plan, which includes an overhaul of the city's recycling program, incentives to reduce waste and tacit support for the City Council's plan to dramatically reduce the use of plastic shopping bags.

New York, with about 8.5 million residents, would be the largest city in the Western Hemisphere to adopt such a plan, which aims to reduce the amount of its waste by more than 3 million tons from its 2005 level of about 3.6 million tons.

"The average New Yorker throws out nearly 15 pounds of waste a week, adding up to millions upon millions of tons a year," de Blasio said in a statement. "To be a truly sustainable city, we need to tackle this challenge head on."

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150422/us--earth_day-nyc_zero_waste-96ca4d1347.html

[brooklynite]

1. As far as the transportation component, I'd call it lazy...

Lots of goodies, including a new subway line; reduced transit fares; and not a penny promised to pay for it.

[NYC Liberal]

3. Don't worry; that part will never happen.

A Utica line has been proposed dozens of times for quite close to a hundred years.

[daleanime]

4. But it would be a good idea, yes?

Maybe he can come up with a way to get it done.

[NYC Liberal]

6. For sure. But just look at the SAS. And now after all this,

even after all the construction that's been done, it might not even be built the full length.

So my hopes are extremely low.

[LiberalElite]

8. Hey- we're finally getting the Second Ave. Subway built

anything's possible. That was first proposed in 1929.

[NYC Liberal]

9. And maybe not even that:

MTA: The Full 2nd Ave Subway Might Not Happen

[LiberalElite]

10. HUH?

And all that disruption for local businesses and pedestrians for nothing?

[SoapBox]

2. At least it's something.

[JDPriestly]

5. Great news.

Since I started composting vegetable and fruit wastes, my garbage bin is only about 1/6 full by the end of the week. My paper and plastic bin is nearly full every week. I wash the plastic bags with my dishes. (Don't have a dishwasher and wash by hand. No room in my 1920s kitchen for a dishwasher.) Then everything goes in the recycle bin.

I would like to know more about how the stuff that goes into my recycle bin is recycled. Hint. Hint. To anyone who makes documentaries.

[wordpix]

7. compost the food waste & tax the wasteful plastic packagers

When I was a kid, all the fruits and veggies and nuts were in bins and once you picked them out, they'd be put in paper bags. Not that I want forests to be cut, but certainly we don't need all the plastic that food and other items are packaged in.

I recently had to take some antibiotics that were in this plasticized blister pack that was heavy plastic inside heavy plastic. It took me awhile to figure out how to open it easily, and even that wasn't easy.

[NJCher]

11. hey, you just gave me an idea

Now when I plan to shop the bulk food bins, I'll pack a few empty plastic containers in my re-usable shopping bag.


Cher