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Ushma Pandya shares a report on legislative updates for New York State waste disposal.

We continue to see federal, state, and local activity related to waste reduction and

diversion. We provide the below as a recap of the major legislation (passed and pending) that

is of interest, primarily in NYC and NY State but also around the country. Our focus here is on

Single Use Disposables , EPR and Organic Waste Legislation.

NEW YORK WASTE LEGISLATION

Skip the Stuff (Passed)

Choose to Reuse Bill (Pending)

Construction & Demolition Bill (Pending)

New York City’s “Skip the Stuff” bill passed on January 19, 2023 by a vote of 43-7

and Mayor Eric Adams signed the bill on February 1, 2023. Takeout and delivery

food customers will no longer receive extra items like napkins, utensils and

condiments unless they specifically request them. This will reduce the amount of

disposable plastic polluting our environment while also saving restaurants and the

city money. Restaurants across the nation spend about $20 billion per year on these

items while NYC spends about $42 million each year on managing the waste from

single-use disposable foodware.

On April 11, 2023, NYC Council introduced legislation on reuse that would require

reusables for on-site dining and corporate-owned fast casual restaurants to offer

reusable packaging for dine-in, takeout, and delivery. This will be the most

significant legislation on reusable packaging in the US.

Senate Bill S4720 was introduced on February 14, 2023 and requires contractors in

certain large cities to recycle 50% of the waste generated on construction and

demolition (C&D) sites. According to a study by the NYC Department of Sanitation

(DOS), 60% of the solid waste stream consists of C&D materials. The purpose of this

bill is to greatly reduce the amount of waste produced by C&D activities in cities

with populations greater than one million.

Highlighting Legislation Impacting NYC

Separation of Yard Waste (Pending)

The NYC Department of Sanitation has proposed to amend its rules for collection of

recyclable materials to require source separation of yard waste and to also allow the

commingling of other organic waste (like food) with this yard waste. Implementation

of the rule would be phased in on a borough-by-borough basis with Queens first

whenever the rule goes into effect, Brooklyn on October 2, 2023, Bronx and Staten

Island on March 25, 2024, and Manhattan on October 7, 2024.

 

Key points include:

• Single Use Disposables
• Organic waste
• Pay-as-you-throw

Access the full report, Think Zero Spring 2023 Legislative Update, on ThinkZerollc.com.