One City’s Waste – in Numbers
As the largest city in the world’s most wasteful country, New York generates more than 14 million tons of trash each year; reputedly (though possibly inaccurately) more than any other city in the world.
Not only that, New York is also America’s densest city: its narrow, traffic jammed streets make collecting all that garbage a logistical Gordian knot. And New York is located smack in the center of the Northeast megalopolis, a giant urban expanse where available land for disposing of garbage is in short supply.
To deal with these challenges, the city relies on a complex waste-management ecosystem encompassing two city agencies, three modes of transport (trucks, trains and barges), 1,668 city collection trucks, an additional 248 private waste hauling companies, and a diverse network of temporary and permanent facilities extending halfway around the world.
A brief history of New York’s waste management
Waste management problems are nothing new for New York. As described in a1657 ordinance, when New York was still called New Amsterdam, “… many burghers and inhabitants throw their rubbish, filth, ashes, dead animals and suchlike things into the public streets to the great inconvenience of the community.” A snapshot from two centuries later depicts a city overrun with horse manure, posing a health hazard for residents.
Through most of its history until the mid-1900s, New York’s primary method for disposing of its waste was simply to dump it into the ocean. At one point, as much as 80% of New York’s garbage ended up out at sea. However, in what was surely its most enduring waste management initiative, New York City used some of its garbage (mostly ash, rubble and other debris) to create artificial land, thereby increasing its own size. Much of the city’s land today, including some of its priciest neighborhoods, are literally built on garbage.
Two waste systems – one public, one private
Today, New York City generates 14 million tons of trash each year. The amount is so large that the city manages it through two separate systems, one public and one private. The public system handles waste from residences and government buildings as well as some non-profits. This “public waste,” which accounts for about a quarter of the city’s total, is collected by New York’s Department of Sanitation (DSNY), the largest waste management agency in the world with a yearly budget of $1.5bn (£1.25bn), greater than the annual budget of some countries.
The other three-quarters of New York’s garbage is generated by commercial businesses, most of it rubble and debris from construction projects. Collection of this “private waste” does not come out of the city’s budget. Instead, business must pay one of the City’s 248 licensed waste haulers to take it away. Overseeing private trade waste is New York’s Business Integrity Commission, an agency created to rid the carting industry of organised crime. Consistent with the Tony Soprano stereotype, New York’s garbage hauling industry has long had ties to organised crime. Today, this corruptive influence has largely been eliminated, and the BIC’s primary function is regulatory oversight and setting price controls. In 2012, New York’s public and private waste management systems spent a combined $2.3bn on garbage collection and disposal.
To read the full story, visit https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/oct/27/new-york-rubbish-all-that-trash-city-waste-in-numbers.