The Green Building Market is Growing

Boro-Wide Recycling Corp. 

Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656 

www.BoroWideRecycling.com

 

A report recently released by McGraw-Hill Construction, which is part of the McGraw-Hill Companies, estimated that the green homes share of the construction market was 17% in 2011, which equates to $17 billion, and is expected to rise 29-38% by 2016.

This expected rise in the percentage of green homes could potentially spell out an $87-$114 billion opportunity. This is based off of a five-year forecast for residential construction. The report reveals that two of the key factors driving this market growth are the fact that green homes are seen as having higher quality and that they save consumers money (http://goo.gl/WoXTR).

“In the current residential market, there is an enormous need to differentiate your homes for consumers,” says Harvey Bernstein, Vice President of Industry Insights and Alliances at McGraw-Hill Construction. “When builders are able to offer homes that not only are green, but also offer the combination of higher quality and better value, they have a major competitive edge over those building traditional homes.”

Some of the factors that are driving the growth of green home building are that it’s a higher quality for both new home builders and remodelers, customers are strongly value-driven and higher first costs for building green are noted by a much lower percentage of builders as an obstacle now than they were reported four years ago.

For all of your recycling needs, feel free to contact us at Boro-Wide at 718-416-1656! We are here to assist you in any way possible!

NYC Department of Sanitation Names Sustainability Director

Boro-Wide Recycling Corp. 

Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656 

www.BoroWideRecycling.com

According to multiple industry sources, Ron Gonen, co-founder and former CEO of Recyclebank, will be named the first-ever sustainability director for New York City’s Department of Sanitation. This newly created position will focus on waste reduction, reuse, composting and recycling initiatives.

His official title will be Deputy Commissioner for Sustainability. He will be required to lead the Bureau of Waste Prevention, its staff of 29 workers and a $30 million annual budget.

While still in graduate school, Gonen and friend Patrick FitzGerald launched Recyclebank as a pilot program in Philadelphia in 2004, working to convince households that there were financial incentives to recycling. Recyclebank now has rewards-for-recycling programs available to more than three million members in the United States and United Kingdom (http://goo.gl/kGWDf).

New York City has a plan to double the city’s landfill diversion rate by the year 2017. Gonen will work with Mayor Bloomberg’s office and the Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability to meet the solid waste goals of PlaNYC. He will also advise DoS Commissioner John Doherty and staff on initiatives within the department, which include reducing emissions from DSNY’s fleet, and exploring alternatives to landfills for city refuse.

Gonen stepped down as CEO of Recyclebank in June 2011 but stayed on the board of directors. 

Contact us at Boro Wide at 718-416-1656 if you have any questions about recycling or landfills. We will answer any questions you may have!

Honest Tea Launches “The Great Recycle”

Boro-Wide Recycling Corp. 

Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656 

www.BoroWideRecycling.com

On Monday, April 30^th, Honest Tea launched one of the largest recycling campaigns in New York City called “The Great Recycle.” The goal is to increase recycling rates and recycle the same number of bottles produced each year by 2020.

The goal of the Great Recycle was to collect more than 45,000 beverage containers in one day. The reason for that amount is because that was the amount of Honest Tea bottles sold in the city on a daily basis in the month of April.

To raise awareness and encourage people to recycle, a 30-foot recycling bin was created in the middle of Times Square. It attracted quite a crowd and had all people walking by curious to see what was going on.

Fellow New Yorkers and tourists passing by were given the opportunity to take part by recycling everything from bottles to Facebook statuses. In order to get people to participate, recyclers were given currency to redeem recycled and recycle-related items in the TRASHed Recycling store. Points were given for bringing bottles and cans to recycle and making a public pledge to be green and recycle (http://goo.gl/B4Uwj).

Over 15,000 bottles were collected at the end of the day, and across the country people pledged to recycle over 218,000 bottles.

If you have any questions regarding recycling and what you can do to make the planet a little safer to live in, give us a call at 718-416-1656 or visit www.borowiderecycling.com.