City to expand organic waste recycling program

The city's landfills won't get much bigger if Mayor Michael Bloom-berg gets his way.

Bloomberg announced Monday the expansion of the city's organic waste recycling pilot program to more neighborhoods in the outer boroughs. The initiative, which already reduced the weight of trash by 35% in Morningside Gardens, where it started, will do a lot more than clean up the streets, according to the mayor.

"These ambitious policies will save at least $60 million in taxpayer dollars and have a significant environmental impact, making them the type of investments we need to secure the city's future," he said in a statement.

Starting in the fall, homes in Windsor Terrace, Throgs Neck and Edgewater Park can recycle organic trash. Communities in Queens, Staten Island and other parts of Brooklyn will follow suit in the spring, reaching 100,000 households by the end of next year.

The program's expansion is part of the city's latest efforts to double the recycling rate to 30% by 2017. Bloomberg also announced the start of an ad campaign that pushes New Yorkers to recycle more.

The "Recycle Everything" campaign reminds people that the city expanded its plastic recycling rules to include hard plastics, such as food containers, earlier this year.