Int. No. 256
By Council Members Hudson, Bottcher, Restler, Brewer, Hanif, Abreu and Cabán
A Local Law in relation to requiring the commissioner of sanitation to study the feasibility and potential environmental effects of a recycling mandate for household textiles
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
Commissioner. The term “commissioner” means the commissioner of sanitation.
Department. The term “department” means the department of sanitation.
Recycling. The term “recycling” means any process by which recyclable materials are separated, collected, processed, marketed, and returned to the economy in the form of raw materials or products.
Textile. The term “textile” means cloth, fabric, and other flexible materials made of animal skin, hair, fur, or fleece; plants; minerals; or synthetic materials.
b. No later than 1 year after the effective date of this local law, the commissioner shall submit to the council and to the mayor a report on the feasibility and potential environmental effects of a mandate for the source separation by households and the collection by the department of textiles for recycling and reuse and whether the implementation of such mandate would require a municipal textile recycling facility to process collected textiles. Such report shall include, but need not be limited to:
1. An evaluation of market demand for recycled and reused textiles, including whether there is greater demand for certain types of textiles, and potential impacts of recycling mandates on market demand;
2. A comparison of the net cost to the department, at the time of the report, of collecting, processing, recycling, reusing, and disposing of textile waste with the projected net cost of collecting, processing, recycling, reusing, and disposing of textile waste if the recycling mandate is implemented;
3. An evaluation of the potential benefits to the environment resulting from the recycling mandate, including reductions in greenhouse gases and pollution;
4. A discussion of the potential negative effects of the recycling mandate, including the possibility of increased consumption of textiles caused by perceptions that textile recycling has eliminated the negative environmental effects of textile disposal and impacts on non-profits and other private entities that currently collect textiles for recycling;
5. An estimate of what percentage of textiles collected under the recycling mandate would ultimately be recycled, reused, or landfilled, taking into account whether such textiles would likely be transferred to a third party after collection or processing and how such a third party would likely dispose of such textiles, and actions the commissioner could implement to increase the percentage of collected textiles that are recycled or reused;
6. An assessment of whether the recycling mandate would require a municipal recycling facility to process the collected textiles, including the capacity of existing private recycling facilities and the costs of contracting with existing private recycling facilities compared with the costs of establishing and operating a municipal facility;
7. An assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of partnerships with private entities to collect textiles and operate textile recycling facilities; and
8. A discussion of any potential barriers to department collection of textiles and any other information relevant to assessing the feasibility the recycling mandate.
§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.
Session 13
LS #6943/9225/9815/9981
01/11/2024
Session 12
RL
LS #6943/9225/9815/9981
1/20/2023