New York City planning to cut waste by 90 percent by 2030

New York will celebrate Earth Day by setting a major goal: To cut the city's waste output by 90 percent by 2030.

The Associated Press reports that Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce the Zero Waste Plan on Wednesday. It will completely overhaul the city's recycling program and will give incentives to people and businesses who are able to cut back their waste. The plan will attempt to reduce the amount of waste by more than three million tons from its 2005 level of roughly 3.6 million tons. "The average New Yorker throws out nearly 15 pounds of waste a week, adding up to millions upon millions of tons a year," de Blasio told AP in a statement. "To be a truly sustainable city, we need to tackle this challenge head on."

The amount of waste in the city has already fallen 14 percent from 2005 because more people are recycling, and part of the Zero Waste Plan is to make it even easier to recycle by having to use only one bin instead of two. The budget specifics will be shared later, but millions of dollars will reportedly be saved by ending the city's practice of exporting garbage to other places: New York City spends $350 million a year transporting its garbage by rail or barge to facilities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and upstate New York, something the Zero Waste Plan will eliminate entirely.

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