NYC Mayor Emphasizes Organics Recycling During Iowa Campaign Stop

During his first presidential campaign stop outside of an ethanol facility in Gowrie, Iowa, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the biofuels industry and emphasized the importance of organics recycling. De Blasio formally announced his 2020 presidential campaign on May 16.

Nearly four years ago, de Blasio announced New York City’s goal of sending zero waste to landfill by 2030. However, three key initiatives—expansion of New York City’s organics curbside collection; conversion to single stream recycling collection for metal, glass, plastic and paper products by 2020; and a save-as-you-throw program—to obtaining that goal have been put on hold, sparking skepticism.

In addition, on Earth Day, de Blasio announced a new, ambitious plan for New York City to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The plan, OneNYC 2050, aims to slash the city's greenhouse gas emissions 28 percent, which, combined with previous efforts, should put the city on track to make a 40 percent cut by 2030. The overall goal of the plan is to source 100 percent clean electricity.

Earlier in April, de Blasio also signed an executive order banning New York City from purchasing single-use plastics, calling it one action with more to come in the city’s fight against climate change.

According to Politico, De Blasio, who has made environmental issues central to his presidential campaign, said he would be "doing a lot more also to encourage recycling” during his campaign stop in Iowa.

Politico has more information:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would speed up his stalled organics waste program during his first presidential campaign stop outside an ethanol facility here Friday morning.

The mayor, who has been making environmental issues central to his burgeoning candidacy, said he would ask the City Council for legislation to mandate organic waste collection.

"We're going to be doing a lot more with our organics program; we're going to go to the City Council for legislation to make it mandatory," he said, in response to a reporter's question after touring the POET Biorefining Ethanol Facility with former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who also served as Agriculture secretary to then President Barack Obama.

Read the full article here.