FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 2021
To Celebrate Earth
Day, City Launches Recycling Education
Recycling
Awareness Campaign Addresses Pizza Boxes
KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble is
pleased to announce that the City
of Kingston, in collaboration with the Climate Smart Kingston Commission
and in recognition of Earth Day, has
launched a recycling awareness campaign.
In Kingston, pizza boxes are one of the
top three paper recycling contaminants because they often contain grease and
food particles. Even if the cardboard doesn’t appear to have grease stains, all
pizza boxes should be disposed of in the garbage tote. To better educate the
community, the City of Kingston has partnered with several restaurants
city-wide, including Pie for the People, Vincenzo’s, 440 Pizza, Broadway Pizza,
Savona’s Plaza Pizza, Savona’s Trattoria, King’s Pizza Restaurant, Tony’s
Pizzeria, and Kingston Bread + Bar, who will include a sticker on their pizza
boxes with recycling information.
“We know it may be counter-intuitive to place
cardboard in the garbage, so we are informing the public by going straight to
the pizza box itself,” said Mayor Noble. “In fact, one pizza box can
contaminate an entire truckload of paper recycling, so it’s important the
community be aware that these boxes are a non-recyclable material.
Additionally, most frozen pizza cartons are wax-coated and should also be
placed in the garbage.”
“It was a pleasure to work on this
community outreach education campaign. The pizza box stickers are just the
start of creating a dialogue, debunking misconceptions, and correcting
‘wish-cycling’ in our city,” said Climate Smart Kingston Commissioner Melissa
Iachetta. “I encourage everyone to support the businesses that are
participating – we are truly grateful for their help, time, and commitment to
this issue.”
Climate Smart Kingston has also been
working on an Earth Day Pledge Campaign, where residents can pledge to one (or
more) of five Earth-saving efforts: to use less electricity, go meatless once a
week, start composting, stop wish-cycling, and/or to reduce water usage. Find
the Earth Day Pledge form here,
and see how each ward stacks up against the others.
Representatives from the Climate Smart
Kingston Commission will be promoting the recycling awareness campaign at the
Kingston Farmer’s Market on Saturday, April 24 with more information about the
project and the Earth Day pledges.
More recycling information, best
practices, and frequently asked questions can be found at https://kingston-ny.gov/recycle.
An informative new Recycling 101 video, which explains what can and cannot be
recycled in Kingston, can be found here.