"We need to set our sights higher. Recycling is so important to conserving natural resources and protecting the environment – we cannot afford to be complacent. We need to do more"
Andy Spano, Westchester County Executive
Yonkers, NY, US: Westchester County is taking a hard line on recycling to further boost its recycling rates. The County states that recycling is not an option, it's the law.
Westchester warns that residents and business owners who don’t sort paper, plastic and other recyclables had better start or their wastes will not be picked up. The new policy will take effect from February 1, 2008.
The County is to step up enforcement of its mandatory recycling law requiring all municipalities to separate the waste generated within their communities.
Westchester says that its communities “have taken recycling seriously, and have consistently exceeded the New York State mandated goal of 40 percent recycling”.
However significant quantities of waste are still finding their way into landfill and incinerators requiring action to be taken.
County Executive Andy Spano said,
"We need to set our sights higher. Recycling is so important to conserving natural resources and protecting the environment – we cannot afford to be complacent. We need to do more."
The plan is to require communities to place their non-recyclable wastes in clear plastic sacks to allow the contents to be checked.
The Source Separation Law
This law passed in 1992 applies to residential and non-residential, i.e. commercial, wastes and specifies in lists the types of material that must be separated at source for collection.
It specifies the types of material such as newsprint, glass food and beverage containers, and HDPE / PET plastic containers, amongst others.
The County says that the Source Separation Law (see a copy at the Westchester web site) sets the parameters for recycling in Westchester and enforcement is conducted in a multi-step manner ranging from warnings to violation notices and ultimately to fines being levied.
Residents, businesses, municipalities, schools and organizations are all subject to the Source Separation Law and face possible penalties for non-compliance.
Andy Spano explained that recycling is up to about 47 percent, which is good. But compared it to places like California, which is at 75 or 80 percent, the County still has a lot to do.
In 1992, Westchester was recycling only about nine percent of its trash, but in the first eight years of the introduction of the law, recycling rates reached 42 percent.