New York City Businesses Promise to Cut Trash in Half in Just One Month

The Big Apple has announced plans to go a little greener. The Huffington Post reports that more than 30 businesses around New York City have promised to take the “Zero Waste Challenge,” cutting the amount of trash they send to landfills in half by June. The June 2016 deadline for businesses is just the first step in New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s larger plan to cut the city’s waste by 90 percent by 2030.

Since de Blasio’s Zero Waste Challenge was launched in February, 13,000 tons of garbage have already been diverted from landfills, Waste Dive reports. Participating businesses include national brands like Whole Foods Market, Walt Disney Co’s ABC, and Anheuser-Busch, as well as local New York businesses like the Waldorf Astoria hotel and the Barclays Center (home of the Brooklyn Nets).

While the long term goal is to drastically reduce the amount of waste New York City produces, de Blasio also hopes that in the short term, these businesses will set an example, inspiring others to adopt sustainable practices. Already, businesses involved in the Zero Waste Challenge have started employing green practices like switching paper cups for coffee mugs, digitizing paper files, and donating leftover food to collection organizations.

“We’re doing what we can to make recycling and composting as accessible as possible to New Yorkers, but everyone will need to do their part to make a more sustainable New York City a reality,” de Blasio said in a statement. “These businesses are leading the way.”

[h/t Huffington Post]