Int. No. 347
By Council Member Vallone (The Speaker) and Council Members Michels, Dear, McCaffrey, Marshall, Sabini, Robles, Carrion, Malave-Dilan, Pinkett, Watkins, DiBrienza, Lopez, Warden, Cruz, Harrison, Reed, Eisland, Lasher, Koslowitz and Freed.
A LOCAL LAW
To amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to weekly recycling collections in the City of New York.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Declaration of Legislative Findings and Intent. The Council finds that the City of New York’s landmark Recycling Law, enacted by the Council as Local Law 19 of 1989 (“Local Law 19”), is a clear demonstration of the Council’s commitment to the management of the City’s solid waste. Since the enactment of Local Law 19, the Council has aggressively fought off attempts by successive mayors to severely decrease or eliminate funding for the Recycling Program. The Council is outraged that the executive branch of City government has continuously failed to recognize what we in the legislature already know - compliance with the recycling tonnage mandates in Local Law 19 is a necessity as a matter of law and sound environmental public policy. The Council remains outraged by the current Administration’s repeated resistance to comply with the Local Law 19 tonnage mandates and the revised timetables for compliance with these mandates as established by court order.
The Council has also maintained its commitment to Local Law 19 and the Recycling Program in the solid waste management planning process. For example, in the 1992 Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan, the Council demanded and obtained an expedited schedule for the Citywide implementation of the Program. In the 1996 update to and modification of the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan, the Council required the expansion of the Recycling Program to include mixed paper and bulk metal and the City commenced implementation of the program. The Council believes that the addition of these materials has resulted in recent improvements in the Citywide recycling diversion rate.
By the passage of the Fiscal Year 1999 Adopted Budget and the enactment of this legislation, the Council hereby continues its commitment to Local Law 19 and the City’s Recycling Program. The Fiscal Year 1999 Adopted Budget allocated funding to provide the residents of all of the City’s 59 local service delivery districts with weekly recycling collection service. At present, only the residents of 18 of the City’s 59 local service delivery districts receive weekly recycling collections.
The Council believes that the failure to implement weekly recycling Citywide has adversely impacted the residents of the 41 districts receiving only bi-weekly collections and decreased overall public participation in the Recycling Program. Many of the residents in these districts lack adequate space to store designated recyclable materials for two weeks, which has resulted in problems ranging from unpleasant odors to vermin infestation. In light of these problems, some residents have chosen to dispose of their designated recyclable materials with their refuse, which the City collects, at a minimum, two times per week. The Council believes that the provision of weekly recycling collections to all City residents, supplemented by a comprehensive education and outreach program and a mayoral commitment to the Recycling Program, will serve to further increase the City’s diversion rate and enable the City to comply with Local Law 19 and relevant court orders.
Finally, the State mandated closure of the Fresh Kills landfill by January 1, 2002 provides further incentive for the City to increase the City’s recycling diversion rate. It is axiomatic that as the City increases the amount of materials it recycles there will be a corresponding decrease in the amount of residential waste that needs to be disposed of at the Fresh Kills landfill. Increased recycling also decreases the City’s reliance on out-of-City export as a means of disposing of the City’s residential waste. The City’s decreased reliance on export benefits the overall quality of life for those communities throughout the City that would be besieged by applications for new or expanded transfer stations and through which the City’s residential waste would be exported.
§2. Subchapter two of chapter three of title sixteen of the administrative code of the city of New York, as added by local law number 19 for the year 1989, is amended by adding a new section 16-305.1 to read as follows:
§16-305.1 Weekly collection of designated recyclable materials. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 16-305 of this chapter, beginning on the effective date of this section, the department or any successor agency or entity designated to provide services pursuant to this chapter shall commence and maintain the collection of designated recyclable materials on at least one day each week from households in all of the city’s local service delivery districts in accordance with the following schedule:
1. not later than September 1, 1998 in eleven of the local service delivery districts not receiving weekly collection of designated recyclable materials as of July 1, 1998;
2. not later than January 4, 1999 in fifteen of the local service delivery districts not receiving weekly collection of designated recyclable materials as of September 1, 1998;
3. not later than April 5, 1999 in every other local service delivery district not receiving weekly collection of designated recyclable materials as of January 4, 1999; and
b. Every local service delivery district receiving weekly collection of designated recyclable materials prior to the effective date of this section shall continue to receive such services.
c. The commissioner shall utilize the following criteria to determine which local service delivery districts shall receive collection of designated recyclable materials as required by subdivision a of this section: (i) the eleven local service delivery districts with the highest diversion rate of designated recyclable materials as of July 1, 1998 among those local service delivery districts not receiving weekly collection of designated recyclable materials after July 1, 1998 shall begin receiving collection of designated recyclables on at least one day per week not later than September 1, 1998; (ii) the fifteen local service delivery districts with the highest diversion rate of designated recyclable materials as of October 1, 1998 among those local service delivery districts not receiving weekly collection of designated recyclable materials after September 1, 1998 shall begin receiving collection of designated recyclable materials on at least one day per week not later than January 4, 1999; (iii) all other local service delivery districts not receiving weekly collection of designated recyclable materials shall begin receiving collection of designated recyclable materials on at least one day per week not later than April 5, 1999.
d. For the purpose of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (i) “designated recyclable materials” means solid waste that the commissioner has designated as recyclable pursuant section 16-305 of this chapter; (ii) “diversion rate” means the percentage, by weight, of the designated recyclable materials diverted from the waste stream for recycling, calculated as the quantity diverted divided by the total waste generated; and (iii) “local service delivery district” means a local service delivery district as described in chapter sixty-nine of the charter.
§3. This local law shall take effect immediately.
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