City Mired in Solid Waste,

No Plan Yet to Clean House
By Henry J. Stern

October 24, 2003

    Friday morning the Baruch's School of Public Affairs and the New York League of Conservation Voters held a forum on solid waste disposal.   The panelists were Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty and his deputy, Robert Lange; Staten Island Councilmember Michael McMahon, chair of the Council's Sanitation and Solid Waste Committee; Benjamin Miller, author and former chief planner at Sanitation; and environmental writer Ruth Ford of Habitat magazine.  Former Deputy Mayor Barbara Fife moderated.  About one hundred ten people attended.
 
    The consensus was  (1)  that the city has an enormous problem of finding places to dispose of solid waste,  (2)  that landfills we now rely on in other states are closing, raising their prices, and passing on newly imposed state taxes,  (3)  that there is a semi-monopoly of large firms who handle substantial amounts of waste, reducing competition and increasing prices, (4)  that temporarily ending recycling of glass, metal and plastic had not saved the city much money and had gotten some people out of the habit of recycling, and (5) that the closing of Fresh Kills landfill had aggravated a situation for which as yet there is no solution.  It was acknowledged that there is intense community opposition to the siting of marine transfer stations, material recovery facilities, truck terminals, sanitation garages or anything else that evokes the sight, sound, or smell of schmutz.

 
    Benjamin Miller, author of the book, "Fat of the Land", was most critical of current solid waste policy.  He is a bright and disciplined man whom I brought into city service in 1980 as a Council aide, back when I was Councilmember at Large from Manhattan (1974-83).  Miller said the city was not yet dealing with the reality of ever-growing torrents of waste and that DEP's efforts so far would not significantly reduce the problem.

    Commissioner Doherty explained rapidly and cogently what DOS was doing with solid waste. He said that policy on these issues was for elected officials to decide, and for him and his agency to carry out.  Councilman McMahon said waste disposal is a growing problem, told how his committee had tried to ameliorate the situation, and called for new technologies.  Ruth Ford distributed a thoughtful article, "Colossal Waste," which she wrote for City Limits magazine.  She takes you through turgid issues of waste disposal with grace and clarity.
 
    From the floor, I asked how the problem of solid waste disposal could be solved in a democracy where every rational proposal was opposed by relatively strong constituencies.  Indeed, the forum itself was picketed by a handful of Naderites wearing white gauze masks over their mouths and noses.  Miller said that all parties should sit down together and work on the problem.  That does not appear to be imminent, but it is most likely a necessary first step.  Eventually, conflicting state claims and regulations could end up being decided by Congress or the Federal courts.

    DOS is now working on a twenty-year contract for reuse of recyclables in which a large firm, Hugo Neu, has expressed interest.  Sanitation is laboriously preparing the RFP (Request for Proposals), but there are problems as to what should be included in it, and whether smaller firms should have the opportunity to compete for the work.  As of October 2003, no agreement has been reached and the city is slowly settling deeper in its own detritus.
 

Craven and Contemptible Conduct

    Waste disposal is not nearly as gripping as the ferryboat tragedy, which we will follow up on next week.  After our article was published in Thursday's New York Sun, a number of people called with anecdotes of life on the boat and the behavior of its crew.  This tragedy must not disappear behind the veil of the National Transportation Safety Board, which can take up to a year to prepare its reports.  The fact that the two captains and a mate are refusing to co-operate with the NTSB is, as the Mayor and Transportation Commissioner said, disgusting and outrageous.  The cowardly captains should probably be prosecuted for multiple manslaughter.  However, like Brooklyn Judge Victor Barron, convicted of bribery, they may still be able to collect their pensions while in durance vile at public expense.

Henry J. Stern is the director of NYCivic.