By Resa A. Dimino

Steering Committee member, NYC Waste Prevention Coalition

The Department of Sanitation’s proposed FY01 budget for waste prevention programs is insufficient. While there is not enough detail provided in the executive budget materials to get a clear picture of exactly what the department plans, it is clear that there is no increase in the budget for waste prevention, reuse and recycling.

In fact, there is an apparent decrease of $2 million in the OTPS expenses allocated to waste prevention, reuse and recycling – from $17 million to $15 million. There is no increase in staffing levels, and only a minor increase ($200,000) in allocations for personnel services.

This is particularly disturbing at a time when the Department’s overall budget is increasing by more than 13 percent, or $130 million. The Message of the Mayor indicates: "this increase is primarily attributed to the cost of exporting waste." (p. 152).

The Department’s approach is irresponsible in light of the rising costs of waste disposal, the increasing environmental and public health impacts of the export plan, and the burden this City is imposing on communities both within and outside the city. That $130 million is "real money" that is needed to repair our schools, renovate our subways and expand social programs and the arts.

Waste prevention is the most economical, cost-effective, responsible, and environmentally sound method of addressing New York City’s waste problem. It:

• Avoids the costs of collection, disposal and export, maintenance and other related expenses;
• Reduces truck traffic and associated public health effects, e.g., asthma;
• Creates jobs and training opportunities and increases the City’s tax base by supporting reuse and remanufacturing businesses; and
• Improves the environment by reducing our consumption of materials and reusing things rather than letting them go to waste.

After some prodding, the Department testified on May 3 that the budget for waste prevention programs, a subset of the overall waste prevention, reuse and recycling budget, totals $2.8 million. Even if that is accurate, and we have no evidence of that, investing that little – less than 1 percent of the budget proposed for export -- is insufficient to bring real economic and environmental gains to the City.

INFORM supports the New York City Waste Prevention Coalition’s proposal to allocate $12.4 million in the FY01 budget for waste prevention programs. This level of funding would put the City on the path to achieving the significant cost-savings and environmental benefits waste prevention can bring. The $12.4 million proposed by the coalition represents less than 10 percent of the increase in the DOS FY01 budget over the FY00 modified budget. It is a mere 1.2 percent of the Department’s budget overall.

It is a small price to pay for the potential gains the City could enjoy from waste prevention – fewer trucks on the road, more jobs and training opportunities, less garbage to export, less material going to waste

• DOS is requesting over $81million more than it proposed spending a mere two months ago.
• DOS is planning to spend over $130 million more than it spent last year. According to the Message of the Mayor, "This increase is primarily attributed to the cost of exporting waste." (p. 152) In addition, "the 2001 Executive Budget allocation includes $23 million to hire an additional 1,050 uniformed personnel to maintain the frequency of residential waste collection services due to operational changes associated with waste export." (Ibid.)
• DOS is not planning to substantially increase its Waste Prevention and Recycling staff ($1.8 million proposed for FY01 compared to $1.6 million in FY00) despite the fact that export costs are going off the charts.
• The Other Than Personal Service (OTPS) costs for waste prevention and recycling ($15.5 million) is approximately 5% of the OTPS waste disposal costs (approximately $300 million), not including collection or personal service costs.
• INFORM proposed approximately $15 million worth of additional cost-effective waste prevention programs shortly after the March 2, 2000 hearings on the FY01 preliminary DOS budget. This amount represents only about 5% of the City's projected waste disposal budget, not including collection. As the price of export continues to escalate, additional waste prevention programs are becoming financially attractive for it to implement, since they could substantially lower New York City's disposal and collection costs.
• The NYC Waste Prevention Coalition is urging the City Council to consider waste prevention proposals costing about $56 million. These represent less than 10% of the DOS's total waste management budget, which includes waste collection, transfer, transport and disposal costs. (NYS has a goal of 8-10% waste prevention.)
• Both INFORM and the Coalition support the following priorities for waste prevention programs:

1. Hiring waste prevention coordinators for every community board;
2. Providing resources to the City government to improve its purchase of waste-reducing and recycled-content goods and services;
3. Expanding the City's backyard composting programs and organic waste prevention initiatives;
4. Providing additional technical and economic development assistance to facilitate waste prevention and remanufacturing among NYC's business sector; and
5. Implementing waste prevention programs in schools.

• It is both fiscally sound and environmentally responsible for New York City government to beef up its waste prevention programs at this time. By not doing so, waste export is likely to start crowding out other important programs and services.

Attached are INFORM's Short-List of Cost-Effective Waste Prevention Programs for New York City. For more information, contact: Alicia Culver at 212-361-2400, ext. 234 (or e-mail culver@informinc.org) or Resa Dimino at 212-361-2400, ext 232 (dimino@informinc.org).