REMARKS
Food waste, insecurity, and organic recycling initiatives in NYC
0:03:26
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92 sec
Council Member Shaun Abreu highlights the issue of food waste in New York City and discusses the upcoming citywide organic waste recycling program.
- Over 1 million New Yorkers experience food insecurity, while 1.2 billion pounds of food were thrown away in 2022
- 86 million pounds of discarded food were still in packaging
- Organic waste makes up about a third of residential waste in New York City
- Residential organics recycling will be available in every borough starting next month
- Calls for reducing plastic use, reusing demolition materials, and investing in local waste recycling facilities
Shaun Abreu
0:03:26
Over 1,000,000 New Yorkers experience food insecurity, and yet we throw away £1,200,000,000 of food in 2022, £86,000,000 of which were still in its packaging.
0:03:40
Let me repeat this, £86,000,000 of usable food.
0:03:45
With a systematic approach that enhances food donations and improves inventory management, we can solve our waste issue and our hunger issue.
0:03:54
Organic waste makes up about a third of residential waste in New York City.
0:03:58
And with residential organics, recycling coming to every borrow next month.
0:04:04
We are offered an opportunity to do the brave and necessary thing to alter our mindset and daily habits by recycling our leftover food scraps.
0:04:13
Beyond organic recycling, we must do more to make waste recycling accessible for waste producers and to make waste recycling a more stable and profitable investment.
0:04:23
It is also important that we do more to reduce our use of plastic and toxic chemicals as we learn more about the effects of these materials leaching into our ecosystem.
0:04:35
The city's landscape will continue to change and through such development, we must look for ways to reuse recovered demolition materials and new construction projects.
0:04:44
Finally, we must reduce our reliance on trashing out of site communities by continuing our investment in building and maintaining local waste recycling facilities.
0:04:55
Today's legislation encompasses some of these intentions.
