Beatrice Grabowsky opened Market Ipanema, a Brazilian healthy food kitchen in Little Italy six months ago. On one side of the store is a clean, white counter with clearly-labeled receptacles for wastes, recyclables and compost.
“I actually hired a third-party consultant to inspect my hauling company to see where my compost was going,” said Grabowsky. She found out her recyclables and compost were going to landfills, so she switched to Avid Waste Systems three months ago as a result.
For a city that creates 14 million tons of waste a year, its end destination is no trivial matter. In August, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and the Business Integrity Commission (BIC) released a statement of their support for a zoning system in which hauling companies would have to bid to pick up waste from entire zones. They said this system would incur less air pollution from trucks and more transparency on where haulers are taking their wastes. Several environmental groups have also expressed their support. However, about 40 hauling companies view the plan as an eliminator of jobs and a competitive free market and have hired public affairs group Effective Media Strategies and lobbying firm Bolton-St. Johns to fight the zoning proposal.
Stephen Leone, owner of Industrial Carting, says the proposal is unfair because it grades the private carting industry on environmental footprint, a factor that was never thoroughly communicated. “If eliminating vehicle miles traveled and recycling is of such great importance to the BIC then why was there no change or emphasis on this?” he said.“If you want this to be important then change the emphasis and we will adjust, just like we’ve adjusted to everything else.”
In response to criticisms of lack in communication and partnership, Director of Policy of BIC Salvador Arrona said they are creating an Advisory Board to ensure members of the industry have a voice in the implementation process. The initial meeting will be held “later this month,” he said in an email.
Environmentalists and the private haulers may be at odds over the implementation of a new hauling system, but they both agree on the need for more infrastructure.
“There’s no system in place where the private haulers have to tell anyone where anything is going,” said Laura Rosenshine, founder of Common Ground Compost, one of the 50 companies that consulted Grabowsky in developing their compost programs.
While tensions are high, Moshe Adler, an adjunct associate professor of urban planning at Columbia University, thinks the zoning system could be beneficial to both sides. He believes the zoning system will not eliminate jobs but will encourage government oversight, which would improve both the working standards of private sanitation workers as well as the environment.
“This is an opportunity for the Mayor [Bill de Blasio] to save the environment and make jobs better,” Adler said. “These two problems do not have to be in constant conflict — let’s not miss the opportunity.”