A coalition of New York City businesses, residents and the Arlington, Virginia-based National Waste and Recycling Association (NWRA) filed a lawsuit Nov. 16 challenging a city law that requires more than 20 transfer stations located in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx to cut the amount of waste they process. The amount is far below what their state and city permits allow, NWRA says.
The petitioners include city transfer stations, residents and the association representing the solid waste industry in New York City.
Local Law 152, which was signed into law in August, was created to reduce the amount of waste that can be taken at transfer stations in four neighborhoods that bear the brunt of the city’s waste management infrastructure, according to New York City's website.
NWRA says the law, which takes effect in 2019, singles out certain transfer stations and requires them to reduce their legally permitted capacity anywhere from 33 to 50 percent. In a press release, NWRA says Local Law 152 “hobbles the capacity of the New York solid waste industry to serve the public with safe, environmentally sound and economical garbage management.” The release also says the city ignored required environmental reviews in order to pass a law that does not improve the environment and will instead increase traffic and air pollution.
Over the last ten years, NWRA says the coalition bringing this lawsuit tried to negotiate with the city to agree to lawful and fair reductions in transfer station volumes across the city consistent with the city’s management plan. NWRA says the city ignored these efforts, as well as the advice from the city’s department of sanitation, and refused to negotiate.
“We do not take pleasure in taking legal action against New York City. Our member companies and this association have worked closely with city officials for decades to efficiently manage solid waste and keep New York City clean and healthy, and we worked to avoid this litigation,” says Steve Changaris, the director of the New York City chapter of NWRA. “Unfortunately, the city council and mayor have unfairly targeted our transfer stations for volume reductions that will harm our customers, our employees, our businesses, and the city.”
The city's website says the law, once known as the "Waste Equity bill," will also prohibit the creation of new waste transfer stations in neighborhoods that handle at least 10 percent of the city’s waste.
“For far too long, a few communities have been saturated by waste transfer stations and resulting truck traffic. We are creating a more equitable city by shifting the burden away from those communities and protecting other neighborhoods from facing this inequity in the future,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said when the bill was signed into law. “Half a million fewer tons of trash in these neighborhoods each year means cleaner air, less congested streets, and safer environments for our kids.”
The city says the law marks the final chapter of the city’s Solid Waste Management Plan, which is meant to dramatically reduce truck traffic associated with waste collection and hauling in neighborhoods historically overburdened by waste processing infrastructure, including North Brooklyn, the South Bronx and Southeast Queens. The city's department of sanitation estimates that this bill will move between 1200 and 1800 tons per day of waste out of these neighborhoods, which means 120 to 180 trucks per day (on average) will no longer dump waste in these four overburdened community boards, and about 60 tractor trailers per day that will no longer haul waste out of these neighborhoods.