Waste Management in NYC: An Overview

1. Waste Management in New York City abrief and incomplete introduction

2. Urban metabolism

3. provisioning New York City: 2008 statistics (such as they are) • Over 250,000 deliveries per day • Almost 38,000 delivery trucks per day Source: United States Department of Transportation, “Integrative Freight Demand Management In The New York City Metropolitan Area”, September 30, 2010 • Incoming: 142,597,000 tons per year • Outgoing 119,507,000 tons per year Source: U.S. Commodity Flow Survey (Domestic Freight)

4. the moment of consumption

5. the moment of consumption

6. In total: approximately 12 million tons per year – 5.5 million tons going to disposal; 6.5 million “diverted” from disposal

7. Different types of waste from different types of “generators” • Residents and public institutions (serviced by Department of Sanitation • Including public works projects (asphalt, demolition) • Commercial entities (serviced by over 200 different private carting companies) • Offices, shops, restaurants, etc. • Construction and demolition, excavation • Parallel and separate systems • Different waste streams, degrees of information, composition, quantity, destinations, and outcomes

8. ~ 12 million tons Citywide diversion rate of 54% Biggest Possible View * Commercial tonnages estimated based on self-reported data, preliminary for FY11

11. Current disposal system

12. Long-Term Plan: Borough Equity

13. DSNY Curbside Recycling Collection 400,000 tons of paper recyclables collected annually. 250,000 tons of metal, glass, & plastic recyclables collected annually.

16. Where Does it All Go?

17. Contracts for Processing NYC’s Recyclables • DSNY collects recyclables and delivers them to contracted processors. • Different contracts for processing commingled paper and commingled metal, glass, and plastic.

18. Contracts for Processing NYC’s Recyclables • Average $7 per ton revenue for paper. • Average $50 per ton costfor commingled metal/glass/plastic and beverage cartons “MGP”.

19. NYC’s Paper Recycling Contracts Visy Paper Mill The Visy plant on Staten Island receives 160,000 tons of paper per year, over 40% of the paper collected for recycling.

20. NYC’s Paper Recycling Contracts Remaining 60% sold to paper processors who separate the paper into various grades.

21. NYC’s Metal, Glass & Plastic Contract Sims Metals Marketing • Major U.S. scrap metal processor • Long time processor of NYC metal • Current processor of NYC’s MGP recyclables and selected as long term processor.

22. Hunts Point, Bronx Long Island City, Queens Claremont, Jersey City in New Jersey Sims Waterborne Network

23. Sims Claremont Facility in Jersey City, New Jersey • Receives MGP from southern Manhattan and Staten Island • Receives Bronx MGP by Barge

24. New materials recovery facility at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal Proposed Marine Transfer Station in Manhattan Waterborne Network for Recycling

25. 20,000 tons per year autumn leaves. 6,000 tons per year landscaper grass and yard waste. 2,500 tons per year Christmas trees. 7,000 tons per year Rikers Island food waste. 35,500 tons per year total Composting Program

26. Fall Leaf Collection Program includes 34 of the City’s 59 Districts.

27. Leaf Composting Operations Leaves are taken to the Department’s composting sites

28. Food Waste Composting at Rikers Island • Rikers Island is the nation’s largest municipal prison system. • Self-contained island houses over 17,000 inmates and 7,000 officers. • Generates over 20 tons of food waste per day. • In 1996, construction completed of an enclosed, agitated-bay composting system.

29. Food Waste Composting at Rikers Island Finished compost used for landscaping and gardening on Rikers Island

30. NYC Compost Project • Compost outreach and education to residents and businesses. • Funded by DSNY, programs are carried out by staff at the City’s four Botanical Gardens and Lower East Side Ecology Center in Manhattan

31. Electronics Recycling Events • Sites throughout the five boroughs • Accepted: • Computers • Peripherals • TV’s and other A/V • Batteries • Cell-Phones

32. Four-fold Increase in Participation 2004 to 2008 Electronics make up only 0.9% of NYC’s waste stream …that’s 33,939.8 tons or 67,899,600 pounds a year

33. Recycle More Paper Want to Really Make a Difference?

34. Paper: the most under-recycled material

35. Organic Wastes: Rotting, Gaseous and Unwanted

36. Compostable Under Industrial Conditions (not in backyard)

37. We cannot underestimate the barriers • Lack of technological alternatives • Density (compliance) • Service provision (public workforce; free-market private sector) • Facility Siting

38. Organic = Carbon Other options only involve siting because they process organics as a mass, without separate sorting