Why Doesn't The MTA Provide Recycling Bins In Subway Stations?

As the two photos to the right show, both Boston and Metro-North in Conn. provide recycling bins for commuters to dispose of the huge number of newspapers riders carry with them, newspapers which have been blamed for flooding in nyc's subway stations.

According to the NYC.gov website, the MTA did at one time run a pilot program with recycling bins, placing recycling containers in high-traffic subway stations, but the program was found to be ineffective when riders of the nyc subways were found unwilling or unable to differentiate between trash and recyclable, filling the bins with both. The bins, which were installed in stations such as Jay Street in Brooklyn, have since been discontinued. Instead, the MTA continues with their own recycling methods, claiming a 40% recycling rate of all subway trash hauled out of stations. How do they achieve that?

Approximately 30 tons of trash collected daily in the nyc subway sytems gets hauled out to All American Recycling in Jersey City, where the plastic bags are torn open and the contents sorted by hand, with the General Manager of All American asserting that 40% of the material gets recycled.

Now if we could just do something about the 36,000 tons of solid waste is produced every day by the city's 8,300,000 residents and millions of workers and visitors.

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