The Department of Sanitation announced Monday (Jan. 3) that the planned restart of curbside recycling in neighborhoods serviced by Richard’s Disposal has been postponed until the week of Jan. 10.

Covid-19 has severely impacted solid waste collections citywide, with more than 30% of drivers unable to work, causing delays to the scheduled New Year’s holiday collections. In light of these severe resource constraints and to ensure crews can catch up, curbside recycling has been delayed one week and will resume next Monday, Jan. 10.

Solid waste collections fell behind across the city on Thursday (Dec. 30), and crews have been working to catch up throughout the weekend. Crews are focusing on completing missed collections and are preparing to transition to scheduled routes. Crews anticipate being back on schedule by the middle of this week.