Manhattan SWAB researching costs and diversions of zero waste programs

[Maggie Clarke]

Hi all

I'm the head of the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board's long range

 planning committee, and we've been developing parts of an alternative zero waste plan for New York City for quite some time.  But it recently occurred to me that we are missing a couple of important sets of numbers to make a defensible case for investing in different zero waste initiatives versus continuing to export half our recyclables, 90% of the organics and all the reusable/repairable items to landfills and incinerators, maybe in your town.

The missing numbers that we are looking to compile from different places are the annual costs of specific initiatives (e.g. education and outreach, municipal reuse infrastructure operations) paired with the diversion rates from disposal achieved for each initiative.  Then we can more easily defend new funding for zero waste initiatives, particularly in a seriously bad budget year. We can also lay out a reasonable zero waste plan that clearly specifies how much diversion each initiative will be responsible for and its associated cost.  Then we can compare this with the increasing cost of export (now $500 million/year).  Writing zero waste plans without this is aspirational but not as persuasive.

We're looking for data from model programs, legislation and incentives—specifically those that are working well, have reasonable costs, and show good diversion achievements that support the initiative. We would need to adapt cost and diversion data from these initiatives to NYC, a city of 8.5 million where most people don't own cars, and we are a curbside city.

We recognize that some cities have some exemplary programs, mixed with others that aren't working as well.  We are seeking the best programs, legislation, and incentives as measured. We're particularly interested in initiatives that increase participation, since we largely have the necessary recycling infrastructure, and in programs that support a municipal reuse collection and repair system since our municipal reuse system doesn't even attempt to collect / repair everything.  

We look forward to hearing from those in operations and implementation of model zero waste programs and anyone else who has these data.  Thank you in advance.

Maggie Clarke, Ph.D.
www.maggieclarke.com

manhattanswab.org

www.maggieclarkeenvironmental.com
New York City