New York City is getting serious about collecting food scraps to be used in composting. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has recently expressed to the media the need to create a citywide food waste recycling program.

Officials from the NYC Sanitation Department have said they expect one hundred and fifty thousand single-family residences and more than one hundred high-rise apartment and condominium buildings to sign up for the pilot program next year, with more home and building owners participating in subsequent years. It is the Mayor’s plan to ultimately made food scrap recycling and composting mandatory for everyone living within the city limits. In addition, over six hundred schools will also participate.

The city expects to deliver over one hundred thousand tons of organic waste material per year and is hoping to convert the food scraps into biogas.

The city also has several small scale food recycling programs that it is currently testing including a five-day-per-week food scrap collection program at a large residentil apartment complex and another for private residences in Staten Island.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Food scraps and other organic yard waste typically end up in landfills. What is your community or building doing to turn this waste material into an asset instead of a liability? When you go green you can save green every month!