Home Kitchen & Laundry New York Mayor Proposes Organics Recycling Requirements

New York Mayor Proposes Organics Recycling Requirements

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NEW YORK—The de Blasio administration earlier this month announced a proposal to require large-scale commercial food establishments to separate organic waste. Food scraps and other organic material makes up one-third of all commercial waste, and diverting this material from landfills—to be used as a soil amendment through composting or as feedstock for clean, renewable energy through anaerobic digestion—will be a critical opportunity for New York City. The City laid out an ambitious plan to send zero waste to landfills and reduce waste disposal by 90 percent relative to 2005 levels, by 2030 in “One New York: The Plan for a Strong and Just City,” the administration’s comprehensive plan for a sustainable and resilient city.
 
The City is proposing the following subset of facilities to participate in this program:

•    All food service establishments in hotels with 150 or more rooms;
•    All food service vendors in arenas and stadiums with seating capacity of at least 15,000 people;
•    Food manufacturers with a floor area of at least 25,000 square feet; and
•    Food wholesalers with a floor area of at least 20,000 square feet.

Businesses covered by this proposal would be given the option to arrange for collection by a private carter, transport organic waste themselves, or compost on-site in an in-vessel composting or aerobic or anaerobic digestion system, subject to compliance with the City’s sewer discharge regulations.

The proposed rules will be subject to a public hearing and comment period and would take effect six months after they are adopted. From that point, there will be a six-month grace period before any fines can be imposed.

The first wave of the proposed designation will not include restaurants, grocery stores, fast food establishments, or caterers, but the administration will propose adding these businesses under future rulemaking as regional processing capacity expands.

On the Road to Zero Waste

“Building an environmentally just, sustainable New York City that’s resilient for generations to come will require participation from all New Yorkers,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “The commercial establishments in today’s proposal are already recycling plastics and metals, and by additionally recycling organic material, they will significantly contribute to reducing our City’s waste stream—leading the path to send zero waste to landfills by 2030.”

“New York City’s restaurants, hotels, and other food service establishments send more than a million tons of organic material per year to landfills,” said Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. “This proposal represents the first step toward achieving our zero waste goals for businesses by identifying those establishments that are best able to separate a clean organics stream suitable for composting or conversion into clean, renewable fuel.”

“Food waste has for too long been an untapped resource—by turning it into compost, by using it to fuel digesters that create energy, it’s no longer waste that is decomposing and off-gassing greenhouse gases but taking its rightful place as part of a sustainability cycle,” said Nilda Mesa, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. “This is a great stepping stone towards meeting our Zero Waste by 2030 goal.”

“New York City currently pays more than $100 million per year to landfill organics waste; organics make up 35 percent of the overall New York City waste stream,” said Council Member Debi Rose. “As a Staten Islander, I know only too well what a huge waste output means; we were burdened with a temporary dump that existed for 50 years. With this in mind, I have sponsored bills to pilot residential composting in the hope that we can one day create a full-bodied composting program—reducing the city’s carbon footprint, creating jobs and saving money. The effort announced today by the mayor is another step toward reducing our waste and making New York City more sustainable for future generations. I commend the administration’s leadership as we all work together to make our city a pioneer in green practices.”

“The InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel is committed to being a leader in sustainable hospitality, and we welcome the City’s proposal to require large hotels to separate organic waste,” said Herve Houdre, General Manager of the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel. “We were the first hotel in New York to install an on-site digester, and we donate whatever food we cannot use to City Harvest. Our approach is about offering the best experience to our guests while taking care of the environment and the communities surrounding us, and we applaud efforts to improve the sustainability of our partners in the hospitality industry.”

Go to the Office of the Mayor of New York City.

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