Although the topic du jour here in New York City and much of the East Coast is the near record-breaking heat (hey summer, you think you could have given us a running start at least?), some intriguing news out of the Big Sweaty Apple this week:
It appears that newly instated “recycling czar” Ron Gonen is already making good on his promise to “aggressively” install more public recycling receptacles across NYC in an effort to double the city’s lackluster recycling rate of 15 percent within the next five years. As of now, there are roughly 1,000 recycling bins on city streets and parks while there are 25,000 trash cans scattered across the city.
Fabulous! So how many new recycling bins will on-the-go New Yorkers have the pleasure of dumping their spent bottles and cans in? And where will be they located?
Well, there’s a catch in a move that doesn’t actually even appear to be orchestrated by City Hall at all (sorry, Ron), but by the Alliance of Downtown New York and British clean tech company J.M. Ornstein. There will soon be one new very special recycling bin installed at Whitehall Plaza on Whitehall and Water streets in the Financial District and it comes equipped with a very special price tag of $47,000. Yessir, Lower Manhattan will soon be getting the Rolls-Royce of recycling bins. The high-tech, bombproof bin is being imported from across the pond for a pilot run, courtesy Media Metrica, Ltd., a British company that’s already employed a small army of Renew Recycle Bins around London in anticipation of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Source: Mother Nature Network
By Matt Hickman