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Waste & Recycling August 20, 2018 09:30:22 AM

New York City Council Passes Controversial Waste Bill

Waste Advantage
ScrapMonster Author
The long-awaited—and often times contentious—bill that would cap the amount of waste handled by three New York City communities passed by a City Council vote of 32-13 in July.

New York City Council Passes Controversial Waste Bill

SEATTLE (Waste 360):On August 16, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law Intro 157 legislation, better known as the waste equity bill, which would reduce the permitted capacity of waste transfer and recycling processing facilities in selected areas of the city.

While advocates of the bill maintain this will help overburdened communities, other groups are calling it “an unfortunate, unwarranted and unproductive attack on the city’s essential waste management infrastructure.”

In a joint statement released by the National Waste & Recycling Association's (NWRA) New York City Chapter and New Yorkers for Responsible Waste Management, the groups say when the law is implemented next year, it will provide little in the way of actual relief to the targeted areas.

“By restricting the use of existing permitted capacity, the law will increase costs to the city’s businesses, result in the loss of good working-class jobs, cause the displacement of dozens of waste collection trucks to other neighborhoods and diminish the city’s ability to deal with future crises like Superstorm Sandy that could imperil the city’s new waste export facilities,” according to the statement.

The groups also noted that the city’s waste management companies fully intend to challenge Intro 157 in court on a variety of grounds, including the city’s failure to properly conduct an environmental impact review and formally modify its state-approved Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan.

The long-awaited—and often times contentious—bill that would cap the amount of waste handled by three New York City communities passed by a City Council vote of 32-13 in July.

The Intro 157 legislation, known as the “waste equity bill,” targets North Brooklyn, South Bronx and Southeast Queens—home to 26 of the city’s 38 waste transfer stations.

Supporters of the legislation, including Council Member Antonio Reynoso, lead sponsor of the bill, Teamsters Local 813 and other advocacy organizations, say low-income communities of color have been “overburdened” and currently handle a staggeringly disproportionate amount of the city’s waste.

Sean Campbell, president of Teamsters Local 813, tells Waste360 that though he supports the bill, he doesn’t think the current legislation goes quite far enough.

Campbell says this legislation would in effect “keep things in check” and put a cap on the waste that is brought into these particular neighborhoods.

Advocates of the bill maintain the residents in these districts are exposed to dangerous truck traffic, elevated air pollution and hazardous environmental impacts. They also say that under the current system, these overburdened communities have the permitted capacity to accept even more trash than they already do. 

However, opponents of the bill don’t see it that way.

According to a Crain's New York article, critics argue this legislation will raise costs, kill jobs and damage the infrastructure necessary to keep the city clean. They also say it is not clear how the reductions will be implemented and where the waste will be diverted.

Crain’s also reports that critics say they were never given the chance to review the 144-page environmental assessment that the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) handed out just before a hearing on the bill before the Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committee.

The New York Post called the City Council’s move a “misguided rush to trash garbage collection” in an op-ed. According to the Post, the “Bloomberg administration instituted a plan to distribute the waste fairly a decade ago.”

Courtesy: https://waste360.com

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