Suggested Sample Language for NYC Apartments

Download (in Word) suggested sample language to explain recycling rules to your tenants, or copy the text below from this page. Be sure to adapt the language for your own apartment building. Attach this rider to apartment leases or agreements, and renewal notices.

New York City has a mandatory residential recycling program that requires all residents to source-separate designated materials from their waste in their homes for recycling collection by the NYC Department of Sanitation.

Residential building owners/landlords must notify residents about recycling requirements, designate an accessible recycling area, and maintain signs explaining what and how to recycle.

Residents are required to keep the following designated materials separate from regular garbage and discard them according to building management instructions in properly labeled recycling receptacles. (For more info on what to recycle, call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/recycle.)

What to Recycle

paper & cardboard: newspapers, magazines, catalogs, white and colored paper (staples OK), mail and envelopes (window envelopes OK), paper bags, wrapping paper, soft-cover books (paperbacks, comics, etc.; no spiral bindings), cardboard egg cartons and trays, smooth cardboard (food and shoes boxes, tubes, file folders, cardboard from product packaging), corrugated cardboard boxes

metal, glass, plastics & cartons (emptied and rinsed): milk cartons & juice boxes (or any such cartons and aseptic packaging for drinks: ice tea, soy milk, soup, etc.), plastic bottles & jugs, rigid plastic caps & lids, rigid plastic food containers (yogurt, deli, hummus, dairy tubs, cookie tray inserts, "clamshell" containers, other plastic take-out containers), rigid plastic non-food containers, rigid plastic packaging ("blister-pak" and "clamshell" consumer packaging, acetate boxes), rigid plastic housewares (flower pots, mixing bowls, plastic appliances, etc.), rigid plastic (crates, buckets, pails, furniture, large toys, large appliances, etc.), glass bottles & jars (and no other glass items), metal cans (soup, pet food, empty aerosol cans, dried-out paint cans, etc.), aluminum foil wrap & trays, household metal (wire hangers, pots, tools, curtain rods, small appliances that are mostly metal, etc.), bulk metal (large metal items, such as furniture, cabinets, large appliances, etc.)

Building Recycling Procedures

This building has established the following procedures for handling designated recyclables; these procedures apply to all residents, housekeepers, guests, subtenants, homecare workers, and other visitors:

[Describe your building's recycling requirements including: location of recycling area(s), description of recycling containers, how to discard large metal items, where to go for more information.]

Please check all that apply: