New York City Bill Requires Residents to Separate Food Waste from Trash

Plenty of New Yorkers are already separating their recyclables from their normal trash, but a new bill will require residents to separate their food waste from their regular trash.

Earlier this week, the New York City Council approved a bill that will require New Yorkers to keep food waste out of their regular trash cans. The new mandate will begin in Brooklyn and Queens in October, later followed by the Bronx and Staten Island in March 2024. Manhattan will follow in October 2024.

The goal of the mandate is to reduce the amount of organic waste that makes it to landfills. Food waste produces methane, a notoriously hazardous air pollutant, when it sits around in landfills.

Along with the food waste mandate, the Council moved to require the city to establish e-waste recycling centers as well as organics collections centers in each borough. The Council also moved to codify its goal to eliminate all recyclables and organic matter from waste streams by 2030.

The mayor’s administration believes residents need more time to adjust to the mandates, leaving some thought that Mayor Eric Adams won’t sign the bill. However, there seems to be enough support to override a mayoral veto.

“We have a supermajority on all of the bills,” said Sandy Nurse, the councilwoman who chairs the Sanitation Committee and is one of three lead sponsors of the legislative package. “Whether or not the administration wants these bills to happen is irrelevant. They’re happening.”

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