Important Notice on the Suspension of GrowNYC’s Recycling Programs (click to read PDF)

Recycling in NYC

Recycling is the law in New York City and is an easy everyday way to protect the environment. New York City provides a comprehensive and convenient curbside recycling program for its residents.

The New York City Department of Sanitation provides weekly pickups and has a comprehensive list of recyclable materials and detailed information about recycling in New York City on the NYC Zero Waste website. NYC Businesses are also required to recycle; find information about the NYC Commercial Recycling Requirements here.

NOTE: As of April 23, 2013, the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) accepts more kinds of plastic for recycling.  Our instructional videos, produced in 2009, do not include this change, but are otherwise accurate.   

Check out our TV spots and web-only instructional recycling videos here:

Why Recycle?

Recycling is good for the environment

It takes less energy to create new items from recycled materials than it does to create new products from raw materials. Mining minerals and milling trees into lumber requires vast amounts of energy. Recycling allows us to reuse materials many times to conserve natural resources while creating the products we use in our everyday lives.

Recycling is good for communities

Extracting materials from mines or forests is done far from the place where goods are consumed; however recycling starts in your own home. Gathering recyclables and reprocessing them into feedstock for future products is done locally by people who live, work, and spend money in their own communities.

Recycling reduces pollution

Burning garbage or throwing waste into landfills produces byproducts that pollute the environment. Runoff from landfills and metals like mercury find their way into streams, rivers and oceans, fish, and eventually into human beings, harming our health.