Recycling expands to accept hard plastic

New Yorkers no longer have to trash iced-coffee cups, empty shampoo bottles, coat hangers and food containers.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Wednesday that the city has expanded its recycling program to include hard plastics, amounting to more than 50,000 tons of waste a year that would otherwise sit in a landfill. The expansion took effect Wednesday.

"There is no more worrying about confusing numbers on the bottom of the container," Bloomberg said in a statement.

Taxpayers will save nearly $600,000 a year in export costs, the mayor added.

"Residents won't have to think twice about what can and cannot be recycled," Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said Wednesday.