The way the city manages its solid waste determines a significant portion of our collective carbon footprint. It is imperative that the city treat solid waste management as a part of its overall sustainability plan and include solid waste management issues in future iterations of PlaNYC 2030.

Currently, the city has set a residential recycling goal of 25 percent in its Solid Waste Management Plan, although it reached only 16.5 percent as of FY 2007. It is time the city take concrete steps toward reaching this and other solid waste goals. A sustainable waste management plan requires a comprehensive set of policies that consider environmental impacts at each step of waste management, including reduction, transport, disposal, recycling and composting.

We urge the City Council to:

• Pass a revised Local Law 19 that would create a more comprehensive, user-friendly and effective recycling program. This would include increasing the types of items eligible for curbside pickup, vastly improving educational efforts and creating a more transparent waste management process.
• Support Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to charge a fee for plastic bags and dedicate at least some of the revenue from this measure to recycling programs.
• Pass Intro No. 702, which will create electronic pay stubs for city employees. This measure will significantly reduce the city’s paper and ink use, and could save an estimated $2 million each year.
• Ensure that the New York City Economic Development Corporation follows through on its commitment to site emission free waste-to-energy demonstration projects within the five boroughs.

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