40% of children kindergarten through 8th grade in New York City are either overweight or obese. Of that, 22% are obese and 18% are overweight. The study was based on the  254,076 children from 2008-2009. It was conducted by the Departments of Education and Health.

Pretty shocking.

Also sad is that the poorest children tended to be the heaviest. What to do? The schools have gone to 1% fat milk instead of whole milk. They’ve banned drinks with sweetened with sugar from school vending machines. They plan to focus on getting kids to be more active.

I hope New York City can turn things around. Maybe community gardens? More education and offering healthy choices in school lunch (that wasn’t addressed in the article).

More at: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7131826.html

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New York City hopes to pass legislation to put more recycling bins in public places. The reasoning is that people want more opportunities to recycle and adding more bins will encourage it. There are already about 300 bins in city public spaces, including at public schools and agencies. They want to add a lot more and also create a textile recycling program.

As part of the effort, they want to educate people on recycling and add other programs to help.  An educational campaign would include recycling workshops and guides to residential recycling. With all of the tourists and attractions, this would be great for the country.

I thought of something. Maybe New York City could try adding music to recycling bins. Or, perhaps encourage new jobs by giving incentives to the recycling industry like Philadelphia has.

What do you think? Is this a good idea? Let us know what you think in the comments.

It’s great news to hear that New York city is dramatically expanding and improving their recycling program. This is the first significant expansion of the city’s recycling program since the program was created more than 20 years ago.

They plan to save over 8,000 tons of plastic every year away from landfills and incinerators. That’s equal to the amount of trash produced by nearly 10,000 people each year.

They  will go 300 to 700 recycling bins.

Legislating Recycling Shown to Be Effective

New York City’s mandated the collection of recyclables from every residential and commercial building in the city. Within 10 years of this, the City of New York increased its residential recycling rate from less than 1% to more than 20%.

A new recycling facility is scheduled to open in Brooklyn in 2012.

They are expanding recycling of household hazardous waste, clothing and textile recycling, paint recycling, and increased recycling efforts in schools.

Sort of like getting a ticket and attending traffic school, if you break the law you will be able to go to a recycling workshop instead of paying a fine (first time only.

There is more, read about it here: http://www.recyclingtoday.com/new-york-city-expanding-recycling-laws.aspx

Rubbercycle wants to recognize New York City’s leadership and encourage more cities to take their lead.

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