Thank you Chair Abreu and members of the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management for holding this hearing today. As former Chair of this committee from 2014-2021, I remain deeply invested in a comprehensive approach to waste management that centers sustainability and environmental justice and engages all New Yorkers in doing their part. I am therefore concerned about this administration’s approach to the FY 2025 DSNY budget, and want to discuss the implications of cuts both proposed and already implemented.
Administrative Staffing, Outreach and Communications: I am very disappointed by the cuts to DSNY’s budget for outreach and communications, as well as the unexplained cut of 321 civilian administrative positions in FY 2025. This year, DSNY will begin to implement one of its most transformative programs, Commercial Waste Zones (CWZ). It will also rollout curbside organics collection to Manhattan, and begin requiring residential building owners to containerize their trash. All of these programs are complicated, and require significant planning, oversight, and most critically – public engagement in order to be successful. They represent major shifts in how NYC collects its waste, and examples from other cities show us that messy rollouts can threaten programs long-term. Additionally, according to the MMR, the city’s curbside and containerized recycling diversion rate actually went down this year to just over 16%, short of DSNY’s goal of 23%, which itself is lower than that of many other major cities. Education and outreach are critical to getting this number up. Given all this, cutting outreach, education, and staffing for implementation seems short-sighted and particularly unnecessary given recent re-estimates that predict a budget surplus of over $3 billion in the next fiscal year.
Solid Waste Management Plan: All of this applies also to another important project: creation of the 2026 Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP). This critical plan will guide solid waste management in New York City for the next 20 years. The 2006 plan included transformative measures, such as creating a metal/glass/plastic recycling facility in the city (now operating in Sunset Park), and developing the City-operated Marine Transfer Stations (MTSs), which ship residential waste out by barge rather than long-haul truck, a major win for environmental justice advocates who participated in shaping the plan. One of the November PEGs cancelled a planned consultant contract for support in developing the 2026 plan, and my understanding is DSNY intends to bring this in-house. How can we expect another transformative plan that incorporates input from our communities, given the staffing and outreach cuts to the agency outlined above? City Council must insist that more attention and funding be allocated to creation of this critical plan.
Community composting: I have already been on record multiple times expressing my disappointment with the administration’s decision to end community composting programs, and asking for restoration of the cuts imposed in November. To summarize, community composting is not “inefficient,” as DSNY has implied; rather, these organizations provide an important resource for our communities by:
- diverting millions of pounds of food waste from landfills every year;
- providing free compost to the Parks Department, community organizations, street tree maintenance, school gardens, Botanical Gardens, and community gardens;
- creating jobs; and
- playing a critical role in educating youth and the public about the value and mechanics of composting.
As my colleagues and I said in a letter we sent to Mayor Adams in December, in the scale of the City’s budget, $3 million is a drop in a very large bucket, yet it has an outsized impact on our zero waste goals and our ability to educate New Yorkers about sustainable practices. Not only are these cuts unnecessary, but pushing local groups off of public lands, even after they located bridge funding to temporarily sustain operations, seems particularly cruel. While it’s not my borough, even I know that BIG Reuse’s site at Queensbridge is a beloved local resource, and a much better use of space than a parking lot. Leaving the Lower East Side Ecology Center with no home after almost four decades of operation in NYC is unacceptable. I join my colleagues, including Speaker Adams and Finance Chair Brannan, in calling for restoration of the cuts to these vital organizations.
Brooklyn District 13/15 Garage: Finally, on DSNY’s capital plan, I want to again express my disappointment that Brooklyn’s District 13/15 garage is once again not being considered for capital upgrades. These garages are still operating from among the worst physical plants in DSNY’s inventory, with BK 13 located in a dilapidated building and parking its trucks on an HPDowned site slated for affordable housing development, and BK 15 using trailers in an area plagued by flooding. City Council approved site selection for a new garage to be located on Coney Island Creek in 2006, but the project was never funded, and National Grid recently sold the site to a real estate company for $51 million. Now we must go back to the drawing board to find these garages a new, long-term home.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today. I stand ready to support this Council in reinstating funding for the programs outlined above and look forward to working with you all to continue transforming waste collection in New York City.
