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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Students from PSMS 188 and PSMS 46 Arthur Tappan on Waste Management and Local Composting
2:22:32
ยท
3 min
Students from PSMS 188 and PSMS 46 Arthur Tappan in Harlem presented their learnings and experiences regarding waste management, its environmental impact, and the benefits of local composting. They highlighted the negative effects of current waste disposal methods and advocated for more sustainable practices.
- The students described their field trip to an incinerator in Newark, emphasizing the health and environmental impacts on local communities.
- They shared success stories from their schools, including a plastic-free lunch day and the implementation of Mindful Choice Meals to reduce food waste.
- The students strongly advocated for local composting as a solution to reduce pollution, improve soil quality, and benefit communities, citing examples from Wagner Houses and their own experiences.
7th Grade Student
2:22:32
Good morning.
2:22:35
We want to thank council member Abreu and the sanitation committee for this opportunity to speak.
2:22:41
We are seventh graders from PSMS one eighty eight, and we've been learning with cafeteria culture about how waste affects our communities and what we could do to reduce it.
4th Grade Student
2:22:53
We learned that there is no way.
2:22:55
The trash from our school doesn't just disappear, it gets trucked all the way to New York, New Jersey where it's burned in an incinerator.
7th Grade Student
2:23:04
And that's not even the end of it.
2:23:06
The ash from the incinerator gets chucked again to a landfill.
2:23:10
That means our waste pollutes multiple communities throughout the journey before it gets to its final resting place.
7th Grade Student
2:23:17
We actually took a field trip to see the incinerator in Newark.
2:23:21
The smell was awful and the people who live there breathe in toxic air every single day because of our trash.
2:23:28
People in Newark have been fighting for environmental justice for decades.
2:23:32
We know that one in four kids in Newark has asthma because of pollution.
2:23:36
The incinerator has over 800 air permit violations on record, but it's still running.
4th Grade Student
2:23:41
This is not fair.
2:23:43
No one should have to suffer because we throw things away.
2:23:46
New York City Students reduce waste by starting the first plastic free lunch day where school lunch is served without any single use plastic packaging.
7th Grade Student
2:23:58
With plastic free lunch day, our school reduced school lunch plastic waste at The Source by over 95.
2:24:06
We also found a way to reduce food waste at The Source with Cafeteria Cultures Mindful Choice Meals.
2:24:13
We reduce our untouched food waste by 64% in just one week.
2:24:18
Of course, we all use the brown bins in the cafeteria at our school and we know that does help.
7th Grade Student
2:24:25
But the brown bin food scraps get chucked multiple times before their final destinations.
2:24:31
First they get chucked to get turned into slurry, then they get chucked to a digester, and after that all of the leftover solids get chucked again to a incinerator or a landfill or other destinations.
2:24:47
That's a lot
Joshua Goodman
2:24:47
of
7th Grade Student
2:24:47
trucking, polluting our air, harming our health, and warming our planet.
4th Grade Student
2:24:53
Instead of trucking food waste all over the place, we could compost it locally right in our neighborhoods because our families who live in night shed buildings do not have access to the brown beds.
7th Grade Student
2:25:05
Less trucking means less pollution, less waste going to incinerators and landfills.
2:25:11
Composting improves soil so we get healthier plants, stronger roots, and better storm water absorption to reduce flooding.
7th Grade Student
2:25:19
And the best part?
2:25:20
Local composting hurts no one.
2:25:22
Local composting is a simple solution that benefits everyone, and we can start making it happen now.
2:25:28
We know this because they're doing it at Wagner Houses.
2:25:31
We visited Compost Power composting site there, and we were so excited to see that it's possible to make your own healthy soil that helps grow your own healthy vegetables right on the NYCHA property.
4th Grade Student
2:25:42
Our school lives right next to NYCHA property, Lillian Walled Houses.
2:25:47
We went to build a compost site there to compost our food scraps from the cafeteria.
2:25:51
We learned about composting at the classroom, but when we visited the composting site at Wagner, we really understood that our food scraps have a value that benefits the whole community.
7th Grade Student
2:26:04
We learned that the city council supports local composting.
2:26:07
We hope you keep supporting it so more youth like us get to learn and be a part of the solution.
4th Grade Student
2:26:13
Thank you.
2:26:15
Wow.