Setback on Solid Waste

Crain's Insider reported yesterday that the transfer station designated to receive the city's recyclables, the one in the Gansevoort district, has been knocked out because of court action brought by "Friends of Hudson River Park." In addition, community groups on the Upper East Side have brought suit against the 91st Street transfer station propose under the mayor's Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP). We believe that it's also quite possible that a suit will be brought against the 59th street station, in effect bringing New York City back to a solid waste square one.

Though the Administration believes they will win these legal challenges the reality is that the mayor's plan of "sharing the pain" by construction additional transfer stations is not going to work. And the other aspects of the SWMP – for example, increased recycling through education – are just plain silly. As we’ve emphasized before, our solid waste strategy needs to be focused on waste reduction and one of the most effective ways to achieve this is via food waste disposers. The mayor needs to wake up and realize this is the only way to solve NYC’s garbage crisis.