The world is a wasteful mess. A lot of people do not recycle and this decision is harming the environment. This needs to change and the Environmentalist Club is on a mission to do just that.  The club will be taking a small step first. Most residents of New York don’t know about the new recycling laws that were passed not too long ago. On April 14, 2013, an old plastic recycling law was given a much needed update. The update expanded upon the old law and now allows for the recycling of new types of plastic products. Before the update, rigid plastic containers were not recycled. To accommodate the new recycling program, the government will place over 300 recycling bins throughout the city in the next three years and over 700 within a decade. This update gives birth to many new ideas on what to recycle, and how to go about doing it? The new laws allow for clothing to be recycled, and the city will be placing clothing collection bins throughout the city. People’s hazardous household wastes will also be collected annually by the Department of Sanitation. The results produced from this update will be phenomenal. Over 50,000 tons of wastes will no longer end up in landfills and more than 8,000 tons of plastic will also no longer end up in landfills- that’s equal to over 10,000 residents’ trash.

This is not the end of the update however; this new law will also be applied to schools, recycling more than ever! This update is by far the largest recycling effort NYC has made in over 25 years, and we as the residents of NYC need to get on board. Another law people need to be aware of is the New York State Source Separation/Recycling Law. It requires the source separation and segregation of recyclable or reusable materials from solid waste. Simply put, it requires people to recycle any usable part of the object they are throwing out. There are other laws that have been in effect for years- like the Local Law 51. Established in 1998, this is a major recycling law that requires recyclable materials to be picked up weekly and sent to recycling facilities. Similar to Local Law 51 in importance, the Public Space Recycling Law is a law that requires public trash bins to be placed throughout the state. This law may not seem like much at first, but it is a huge step forward in keeping NYC clean. Just like how there are public trash bins by law, there is another law, called the Local Law of 41 which requires recycling bins to be placed in schools. The recycling bins in our school are placed under the water fountains located throughout the school.

The Environmentalist Club is trying to keep the school, as well as the city, clean for all people. If you are interested in the Environmentalist Club, come to room 456 on Wednesdays, period 9. We’ll see you there!