Cans for Your Cans and Other Recyclables

Posted in Learning Experiences on December 2 2008, by Plant Talk

Daniel Avery is Sustainability and Climate Change Program Manager at The New York Botanical Garden.

You may have noticed rather colorful cans posted around the perimeter of the Garden and wondered what they’re doing there. Well, here’s the explanation.

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Council approved the city’s Solid Waste Management Plan (appropriately referred to as “the SWMP,” pronounced swamp) in 2006, they included a pilot program to extend recycling to public places such as commercial strips, parks, and transit hubs. The pilot was successful enough to expand the program, and the Garden, working with the local Sanitation District, was selected to participate.

The NYC Department of Sanitation provides the bins, and the recyclable material collected therein is combined with the Garden’s recyclables and carted off each week by Sanitation.

There, another mystery solved.