New Yorkers are throwing out less trash, recycling: Report

New Yorkers have been taking out less trash over the last decade but the city is still paying a high price to keep the streets litter free.

The city's Independent Budget Office released a report Thursday that shows the average New Yorker produces a little less than two pounds of waste a day, which is about a pound less than in 2000.

The report, which crunched data from the Department of Sanitation, U.S. Census and the Mayor's Management Reports, found the amount of products that Big Apple residents recycled dropped about a pound over the last 12 years.

Doug Turetsky, a spokesman for the IBO, said the drop didn't mean that New Yorkers are becoming more environmentally unfriendly, rather people are using less recyclable materials.

"Paper is going down, especially newspapers. Plastics have become lighter so there are less pounds recycling," he said.

One thing that hasn't dropped is the money to haul those smaller piles of garbage from the curb. The report found that it costs the city 70 cents per person to dispose of its trash, a number that remains unchanged since 2000.

Dan Hendrick, a spokesman for the League of Conservation Voters, said New York's costs are higher than other cities and it needed to think outside the box as many factors, including the rise in gas prices, will exacerbate the problem.

"The city spends an enormous amount of money to take the garbage back and forth to landfills," Hendrick said. "They need to think about investing in new [waste management] technology."