Citing a "recent study," Crain's New York Business reported that, in five years, New York City won't pay more per ton to recycle its trash than to dump it, primarily because landfill costs are rising. Nevertheless, the city only recycles just 17 percent of its residential waste today, despite a law requiring it to reach a 25 percent level by 1994.

recyclingMayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council are negotiating over revisions to Local Law 19, with the mayor seeking to eliminate recycling goals and the council  "interested in broader reform...to strengthen the program and enhance its cost-effectiveness," Eric Goldstein, a senior attorney and urban program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Crain's.

The New York League of Conservation Voters recognizes that the way New York manages its solid waste matters a good deal when it comes to the city's collective carbon footprint. As part of our 2009 New York City Council Policy Agenda, the League urges the City Council to revise Local Law 19 to expand the types of items eligible for curbside recycling collection as well as public education efforts. It also supports the mayor's plan to impose a fee on plastic bags and use some or all of the resulting revenues for recycling.