Budget cuts undertaken by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in response to the Covid-19 pandemic have put the city’s organic waste recycling program on life support, but some city officials and residents are scrambling to resuscitate it.

Antonio Reynoso, chairman of the City Council’s sanitation council, is preparing to introduce two bills aimed at breathing life into the city’s waning organics recycling effort. One of the proposals would add new drop-off sites for compostable material. The other would make organic waste recycling mandatory for NYC residents.

And some residents are turning to private haulers to collect their food waste. Many residential properties are signing contracts with commercial waste haulers to pick up their organic waste and send it to farms outside the city, where it can be converted into fresh soil.

And some waste haulers have begun publicizing their interest in providing this service, Politico reports.

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