Bloomberg administration creates new recycling position

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

In a move meant to signal that the Big Apple is serious about raising foundering recycling rates, the city is announcing a new post of "deputy commissioner for recycling and sustainability."

Deemed a "new recycling czar" by a recent blog post in The New York Times, the new head is the founder of recycling rewards giant Recyclebank, Ron Gonen. The move to install Gonen, who will take the position on May 14, is part of greater efforts to boost the city's recycling to double the current 15 percent recycling rate by 2017.

"Ron's years of work in the recycling and sustainability field perfectly matches the needs that we have at the D.S.N.Y. so that we can meet the mayor's specific goals," said John Doherty, sanitation commissioner for the city, in a statement announcing the hire.

According to the Times' report, one of his first moves to boost the lagging recycling rate will be to considerably boost public recycling opportunities for New Yorkers. Gonen says that the department will install recycling receptacles alongside many of the city's 25,000 trash cans, as currently there are only around 1,000 public recycling bins in the city that doesn't sleep.

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