Ick factor: NYC so far turns up nose at food-scrap recycling

[TexasTowelie]

NEW YORK — New Yorkers are so far turning up their noses at the city's ambitious organics collection program, which has stalled because not enough people are participating in the often-smelly chore of separating out all those table scraps, spoiled meat, rotten vegetables and cut grass.

Mayor Bill de Blasio introduced his pilot program five years ago, hoping hundreds of thousands of tons of the city's leftovers and yard waste would be churning their way through the system by now to be turned into compost, gas or electricity.

But expansion has been put on hold because not enough people are pitching in to make it cost-effective. The city collected only about 13,000 tons from residents last year and found that the 3.5 million people currently in the voluntary program are only separating 10.6 percent of their potential scraps.

"Honestly, I think it's a complete waste of time," says Anselmo Ariza, who maintains the trash and recycling bins for several blocks of apartment buildings in Brooklyn. "Some people use them, but most of them just put trash and plastic bags in there."

Read more: http://www.startribune.com/ick-factor-nyc-so-far-turns-up-nose-at-food-scrap-recycling/495383951/