New York City Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a 20-year plan for handling the City’s 50,000 tons of daily trash that shifts from using trucks to barges and railcars, eliminating a major source of complaints inside and outside the New York about the City’s waste management program.

The City plans to build four marine transfer stations for $340 million that will be completed by 2007.

In a special report, No Room to Move, City officials said, in part, unfavorable market forces and changing governmental regulations will dramatically force the price of managing the City’s waste upward.

The report notes two states—Pennsylvania and Virginia—absorb 70 percent of the City’s trash, but changing public policies will likely have an impact on the ability of the City to send their trash there.

“Both states have adopted a number of regulatory measures to address the negative impacts associated with large landfills that call into question the continuing ability of New York City to rely on these two states to meet its disposal needs. Further, a review of several mid-western and southern states found no large waste importing landfill with excess permitted capacities that could reliably meet New York City’s long-term disposal needs. For New York City to meet its disposal needs, it will likely have to access landfills that are not currently accepting large volumes of out-of-state waste.”

In addition, the report said the city's waste-disposal costs have already jumped to $75 per ton in 2002 from $54 per ton in 1997.

The reported noted steps taken by Pennsylvania in the last few years have had a significant impact on their waste exports.

“Regulatory changes adopted since the announced closure of the Fresh Kills landfill in Pennsylvania have given local communities new avenues to oppose the expansion of existing landfills, imposed increased fees on waste disposed of in landfills, and created stricter safety standards on waste trucks. These standards have been used to impound and fine non-conforming vehicles. PADEP’s efforts have reduced waste imports into Pennsylvania by more than 2 million tons per year between 2001 and 2003.”

Among the recommendations made in the report were:

· “New York City should aggressively pursue the development of publicly controlled disposal capacity. As long as New York City is wholly reliant on a small number of firms for the disposal of its waste, it will have only limited control over its short- or long-term costs.

· “To quickly increase in-state disposal capacity, New York City should consider purchasing access to, or the development rights of, existing landfills in upstate New York. Under DEC’s regulations, solid waste management facilities may increase their capacity by 49.9% without having to seek a major modification of their permit.

· “New York City should evaluate purchasing permitted but significantly underutilized landfills in other parts of the country, near appropriate rail and/or water transportation infrastructure that could provide long-term disposal capacity for its waste. Landfills in Ohio and Illinois were mentioned.

· “New York City must reduce the amount of waste that is exported to other jurisdictions for final disposal. In the long run, the most cost competitive waste management solution will likely be a fully-integrated recycling and waste prevention program in which New York City takes an active role in creating viable markets for recycled products.”

NewsClips: NYC 20-Year Plan for Trash Features Renovating Barge Facilities

NYC trash plan forgoes trucks, favoring barges

NYC Recycling plan centers on organic waste

NYC Waste Plan: No Room to Move

10/8/2004