To Fix NYC’s Trash Nightmare, Make Polluters Pay
By Kathryn Garcia
This piece is the third of a series to hear from New York City mayoral candidates.
John Oliver has it right. Recently the HBO host trashed corporations for not taking responsibility for the plastic waste they create and blaming their consumers instead. After a spirited debate on the nation’s worst recycling mascot (I argue that Binny the Brown Bin is the best), John spoke about Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a real solution to the problem (Thanks, John!). EPR will be a critical tool to help us achieve the ultimate goal: zero waste.
New York City should be leading the way in efforts to achieve zero waste. However, New York City’s trash problem is getting worse and worse and we must take action to combat the issue.
Online shopping and take-out have become more popular than ever as we spend more time at home. We’re throwing away even more paper, cardboard, and plastic packaging.
Companies like Amazon are shipping hundreds of thousands of boxes to NYC every week and reaping billions in profits, but barely half of our recyclable paper products end up in our recycling stream. Plus, Amazon’s padded pouches aren’t recyclable at all.
New York City is at the receiving end of an economy with consumer products designed for convenience, portability, and style. But the companies that make everything from our ketchup bottles to our delivery packages have no stake in where these products end up after we use them once. Many manufacturers are all too happy to continue the take-make-waste philosophy that puts the burden of their products on our local governments — and therefore our taxpayers.
Lawmakers in Albany are considering a common sense proposal that would take this burden off of local municipalities — from Rochester to New York City — and place it back where it belongs: the companies that create these products to begin with.
Not only will it generate much-needed funds to support our recycling programs, but it will encourage companies to minimize packaging and design products that are more reusable and recyclable in the first place.
The case is simple: if you make the mess, you should have to help clean it up. This approach will generate new funding that New York City can invest in new recycling infrastructure, expanded services, education and outreach. This means less trash, more recycling, and cleaner streets for everyone.
The “polluter pays” concept is not new; in fact, most European countries and some Canadian provinces have had “extended producer responsibility” (EPR) programs for packaging materials since the 2000s. These programs have been effective; in Ontario, recycling increased after the province’s EPR program was introduced. In British Columbia, EPR fees financed a major upgrade in more efficient recycling facilities, leading to lower costs for taxpayers and less trash in landfills. Recycling is good for our recovery — it creates 10 times more jobs than landfilling.
Furthermore, there’s little evidence that manufacturers pass along the cost of recycling to consumers. One study found that the average price of a Canadian consumer good was a half-penny higher in provinces with EPR programs. This makes sense: in much of the world, global companies are already subject to these rules, and they’ve redesigned their products to reduce waste. We’d simply be holding them to those same high standards here in New York.
Already here in New York, manufacturers of tires, electronics, paint, rechargeable batteries, mercury thermostats, and refrigerators and air conditioners are required to help pay for recycling or disposal of these products. Now, both houses of the State legislature are reviewing bill language that would extend these requirements to packaging and paper products.
It’s a smart concept that deserves to be law. Those who manufacture and sell products that become waste should be responsible for its recycling. I applaud the legislators leading this effort, particularly Senator Todd Kaminsky and Assembly Member Steve Englebright.
Of course, one new law from Albany won’t solve New York City’s trash problems alone. We need to make long-overdue investments in our Sanitation Department, so it can serve New Yorkers better.
The current administration has taken a short-sighted approach, slashing the budget for waste-reducing programs that I launched as Sanitation Commissioner, including the wholesale suspension of our curbside composting and electronics collection programs.
In 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised to reinvigorate recycling, expand curbside composting citywide, and dramatically reduce the amount of trash we send to incinerators and landfills. As Sanitation Commissioner, I knew this goal was ambitious, but achievable. The Mayor, unfortunately, has failed to back this goal at every turn. He lacked the will to pursue an equitable program that would let those who reduce waste share in the savings.
Under my administration, we’ll take a different route. We’ll invest in next-generation recycling technology in our waste management plants, and replace loud, polluting trucks with clean, quiet electric ones. We’ll expand waste containerization across the city to keep trash out of sidewalks and bike lanes. And we’ll fully implement mandatory curbside composting to turn food and yard waste into compost and biogas, instead of rotting in landfills.
There’s no question that New York’s trash problems present a major challenge — but New Yorkers are ready for a mayor who’s at her best when confronting hard problems. Consider me ready to roll up my sleeves and start cleaning up the mess on our curbs.
Kathryn Garcia (@KGforNYC) is a Democratic candidate for mayor of New York.