The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has published its 2017 annual report highlighting its fiscal year achievements as it continues to try to reach its goal of sending zero waste to landfills by 2030. Highlights include the expansion of the NYC Organics program, the launch of the DSNY app, a new street cleanliness achievement and the launch of an anti-litter campaign.
“We are tasked with keeping New York City healthy, safe and clean, and this report demonstrates how sustainability complements our mission. Preventing electronics from reaching landfills keeps our environment healthy. A modernized, safer fleet reduces fuel consumption. Street cleaning maintains our quality of life and keeps litter from reaching waterways, which are now teeming with more wildlife than at any point over the last century. At a time when the realities of climate change are all too visible, our organics program is critical to slashing our greenhouse gas emissions,” Kathryn Garcia, sanitation commissioner, says in the report.
2017 by the numbers:
- The department collected a daily average of 2,140 tons of organic material and recycling and 10,676 tons of garbage.
- DSNY set a new record of 96 percent of streets rated “acceptably clean.”
- The department celebrated the launch of DSNY Info, a free mobile app providing details on services, reminders and updates and tips to reduce, reuse and recycle.
- The NYC Organics curbside collection program continued to expand and is now available to more than 2 million New Yorkers.
- DSNY hosted “give back” events where residents took more than 950 tons of free bagged compost made from previously collected organic material.
- In a pilot program, Staten Islanders scheduled more than 11,250 appointments requesting curbside collection of their e-scrap.
- More than 20,000 residents dropped off 950 tons of household waste at our Solvents, Automotive, Flammables and Electronics (SAFE) Disposal events.
- The department created the basketball-themed #TalkTrashNewYork anti-litter campaign.
The full report can be read here.