How Progressive: NYC Mulls 'Green Fee' for Subway Riders

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering adding on a “green fee” on each new MetroCard to encourage riders to recycle their cards.

The proposal for the $1 surcharge was contained in the agency's preliminary budget for next year.

The aim is to reduce the number of cards that are printed and discarded. The surcharge would produce about $18 million a year for the MTA.

Watch the My Fox New York update:

TA spokesman Adam Lisberg told the Daily News that the agency prints and encodes an average of 160 million MetroCards a year at a cost of about $9.5 million. Printing fewer cards will save the MTA about $2 million.

He said printing fewer cards will reduce litter in the subway system and help the environment.

"This isn't the first time the cash-strapped MTA has proposed this fee.  In 2010, the mass transit agency considered a $1 surcharge on new MetroCards to help close an $800 million budget shortfall," My Fox NY reports.

The Straphangers Campaign has endorsed the plan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.