TESTIMONY
Natural Resources Defense Council on Enhancing New York City’s Waste Disposal Through Community Composting and Capacity Expansion
1:42:27
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160 sec
An attendee from the Natural Resources Defense Council discusses the need for enhanced organics processing and community composting for a sustainable waste disposal system in New York City.
- Emphasizes the importance of getting organics processing right for a sustainable and equitable waste disposal program.
- Advocates for community composting and the expansion of compost processing capacities beyond current efforts.
- Highlights the insufficient progress on mandates from the 2006 solid waste management plan related to compost siding facilities and marine transfer stations.
- Expresses strong support for intro 55, directing the sanitation department to process commercial solid waste at city-owned facilities.
- Calls for the reduction of waste facility concentration in overburdened environmental justice communities.
UNKNOWN
1:42:27
Good morning, Gerry Breo.
1:42:29
Congratulations on assuming leadership of the committee.
1:42:31
You're off to a great start with this hearing.
1:42:34
I'm gonna summarize my written testimony.
1:42:36
New York City will never have a sustainable and equitable waste disposal program if it can't get organics processing right.
1:42:44
Council to its credit past local law 85 of 2023, but mandating curbside alone won't do the trick.
1:42:51
As Claire Mifflin said earlier, we have change behavior.
1:42:54
And if you wanna do that, you need to engage and inspire people.
1:42:58
Community composting does that.
1:42:59
We're delighted to hear of your commitment to fully fund the community compost program in the FY 25 budget.
1:43:08
Beyond that, the entire decades long effort to get organics out of landfilling and incinerators is not going to succeed unless we identify sufficient capacity to process organics in or close to the 5 boroughs.
1:43:22
Anaerobic digestion won't do it while it may be better than landfilling and incineration doesn't provide the broad environmental benefits and presents a variety of environmental and operational challenges as the repeated snap foods at Newtown Creek, sewage treatment plant digesters have demonstrated.
1:43:39
Yet, the city has doggled for 20 years and getting additional capacity for composting other than the recently announced expansion of Freshkill's composting facility.
1:43:49
The city slashed as I indicated funding for community composting, the golden opportunities to expand composting at Governor's Island with earth matter and at Ryker's Island have yet to be seized.
1:44:01
The city's parks department has ignored existing laws, and most parks have not even managed the compost, even their own leaf and yard waste.
1:44:09
In over 2 decades, the mandates of the 22,006 solid waste management plan to set up a compost siding facility have gone by the wayside.
1:44:19
Nor has the 2006 solid waste management plan mandate to rebuild marine transfer stations, to handle processing of all kinds of solid waste, including organics being completed.
1:44:32
Finally, at least for now, NRDC strongly supports intro 55, which would direct the sanitation department to begin accepting and processing commercial solid waste and city owned marine transfer stations and rail transfer stations.
1:44:46
And using these facilities, city facilities to ship wastes out of the city that can't be recycled and can't be composted is the most significant step the council could take.
1:44:56
To reduce the concentration of waste facilities and already overburden environmental justice communities.
1:45:02
Thank you for your leadership.
1:45:03
We look forward to working with you and the entire community staff.
1:45:06
In the weeks and months ahead.
