Promoting Re-use at NYC.gov

Coming on the heels of the news that New York City is conducting a modest expansion of its public recycling program, comes the new NYC Stuff Exchange.  I believe that this is a new endeavor building off of the Dept. of Sanitation’s Wastele$$ program, and it promises to help New Yorkers find ways to donate/sell/buy/rent/repair their “gently used” items of all kinds.  They are also hosting a calendar of events to keep track of the various book fairs, donation drives and swap meets taking place around the city.  Should be a valuable resource as we gear up for a holiday season full of parties, good cheer, gifts, leftovers and a whole lot of extra waste.

These are small steps for a city that has not made much progress at improving its recycling and diversion rates, and that lags well behind cities like Seattle and San Francisco, but at least there are steps being taken.  We’d still like to see the adoption of some ambitious goals (up to, and including Zero Waste), as PlaNYC was largely silent on the matter of waste and the cost of disposing on NYC’s trash in the far-flung landfills of Virginia, South Carolina and beyond is only going to get more expensive (and carbon intensive - all those truck miles!).

For more options for re-use and waste prevention, check out Freecycle NYC , Wa$tematch, and the NYC Materials Exchange Development Program.

And we’d be totally remiss to not remind you (as always) that Build It Green! is the place to go for building materials, paint and a whole lot more at deeply discounted prices.   Wine cooler, anyone?


Posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 2:53 pm | Tagged in Build It Green, New York City, Recycling, Waste | posted by Jamie

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