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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Justin Wood, Director of Policy at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) on Commercial Waste Zones and Organic Waste Diversion
2:31:17
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136 sec
Justin Wood from NYLPI emphasizes the importance of implementing NYC's commercial waste zone program and organic waste diversion laws more quickly to address climate change, environmental justice, and job creation. He strongly supports Intro 1228, which would simplify composting rules for all businesses.
- Expresses frustration with the slow pace of implementing "win-win-win" laws for waste management and recycling
- Highlights the potential for commercial composting as "low-hanging fruit" in the campaign to divert more organics from landfills and incinerators
- Advocates for a unified set of composting rules for both residential and commercial sectors to simplify adoption for all New Yorkers
Justin Wood
2:31:17
Thanks so much council member Abreu, chair Abreu, and to the members of the council and and previous sanitation chairs, who have been present today.
2:31:25
I'm Justin Wood.
2:31:26
I'm the director of policy at New York lawyers for the public interest.
2:31:31
As we've heard today, I mean here we are in in Earth Day, in Earth Week, in an unprecedented time in in human history.
2:31:40
We have a powerful federal government that's doing everything it can to reverse, undermine, and roll back the progress we've made on climate and on social equity and equality and environmental justice as we speak.
2:31:55
And sanitation is not an isolated issue.
2:31:58
It is something that remains firmly within New York City's control where this municipality can control what happens to the waste generated by eight or 9,000,000 people and businesses.
2:32:08
So we really appreciate your focus and the the committee's focus on this.
2:32:13
And it's frustrating to hear about this very slow pace of implementation of common sense win win win laws that would give us a chance to recycle and divert far more waste, including organic waste from landfills and incinerators, bring some relief to environmental justice communities that have borne far too much of the burden of the safety and health hazards of the current system, if done right, and create good sustainable local jobs as we deal with the economic crisis and uncertainty that's brewing at the same time.
2:32:47
So we appreciate the council's push for a much faster and more robust implementation of this law.
2:32:55
We strongly support intro twelve twenty eight, which would just simplify and make composting rules apply to all businesses.
2:33:04
We also appreciate the back and forth on residential composting today because the simplest way to do this is to have one set of rules, one set of behaviors that eight or 9,000,000 New Yorkers can learn.
2:33:16
Commercial composting should actually be low hanging fruit in the campaign to divert more organics because there's fewer businesses generating waste and each business typically generates more organic waste than an individual household.
2:33:28
So this makes sense.
2:33:30
We look forward to continuing to advocate with you.