But like a sleepy citizen who forgot to put the trash at the curb, the city is falling behind these goals. In the first four months of fiscal 2007 the city's diversion rate was only 15.8 percent, down from 2006's already-low 16.4 percent.
Passage of the 20-year Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) last summer was a victory for low-income neighborhoods that finally won a reprieve from the garbage transfer stations in their midst, and for the Bloomberg administration after two years of lobbying over where to put new waste management facilities called for in the plan. But the challenge of meeting its recycling requirements is clear – which is why City Council insisted on creating a new Office of Recycling Outreach and Education. The new office is part of the Council on the Environment of New York City, a privately funded citizens' organization in the Office of the Mayor founded in 1970. It will promote trash reduction and diversion well beyond the present efforts of the Department of Sanitation (DSNY), which didn’t respond to requests for comment.
According to Staten Island Councilmember Michael McMahon, chairman of the council Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committee and one of the architects of the SWMP (or "the swamp" in waste-savvy lingo), there needs to be much more public consciousness-raising. "I think the city hasn’t done the education necessary,” says McMahon. DSNY "is great at picking [recycling] up on the curb but they aren’t good at promoting it.”
Though it's possible that the current diversion rates reflect residents consuming different items, like reading fewer newspapers or buying products with lighter packaging, many say the rates also testify to a hangover from 2002 when Mayor Bloomberg suspended metal, glass and plastics recycling to save money during the post 9/11 fiscal crisis.
“People who previously were in the habit, lost the habit. People got really confused,” and the administration never cleared it up, says Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.
In an office on Chambers Street, with a freshly painted hallway and recycled furniture inside, the new Office of Recycling is just gearing up for what Director David Hurd says will be a “community district by community district” approach to improving recycling compliance. Hurd, who was appointed on Dec. 11 and reports to Deputy Mayor for Administration Ed Skyler, comes to the job after a long career in environmental work, from developing composting programs in the Bronx in the late '70s to serving as an advisor to TetraPak, where he worked to convince jurisdictions to include aseptic containers, like those for Parmalat and some soymilk brands, in their recycling programs.
Now, it’s his job to convince more New Yorkers to recycle aseptic containers, milk cartons, soda bottles, newsprint, and toasters. Yes, toasters; even some veteran New York recyclers might not know that metal toasters can be recycled. “Household metals” (like toasters and bed frames) are a category of recyclables that has a low capture rate, meaning a lot ends up in the trash bag rather than the recycling stream. Another problem category is “mixed paper,” which includes envelopes, junk mail, computer paper, and cereal boxes.
