Letter Report on the New York City Department of City Planning’s Compliance with Local Law 36
SPECIAL REPORTS
Letter Report on the New York City Department of City Planning’s Compliance with Local Law 36
September 24, 2014
LETTER REPORT IN BRIEF
This brief summarizes our audit findings regarding the compliance by the New York City Department of City Planning (“DCP”) with Local Law 36, which governs waste prevention, reuse and recycling by City agencies. The objective of this audit is to determine if DCP complied with the local law, which is intended to make City agencies, and ultimately the City as a whole, more sustainable through efforts that promote a clean environment, conserve natural resources, and manage waste in a cost-effective manner. In addition, in the course of the audit, we noted efforts made by DCP to follow additional recycling rules established by the Department of Sanitation for the City of New York (“DSNY”) pursuant to Local Law 36. Our audit of DCP is one in a series of audits we are conducting of compliance with the local law.
In 1989, New York City established Local Law 19, codified as Administrative Code §§ 16-301, et seq., to establish an over arching “policy of the city to promote the recovery of materials from the New York City solid waste stream for the purpose of recycling such materials and returning them to the economy.” The law mandates recycling in New York City by residents, agencies, institutions, and businesses, and includes a series of rules to guide implementation. Local Law 19 requires the City to establish environmental policies to conserve natural resources and manage waste in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.
In 2010, the City enacted Local Law 36 by which it amended the recycling provisions of Local Law 19 (Administrative Code § 16-307) to require each City agency to develop a waste prevention, reuse, and recycling plan and submit the plan to DSNY for approval by July 1, 2011, and each year after. Local Law 36 also requires each agency to designate a lead recycling or sustainability coordinator for the agency and, where the agency occupies more than one building, to designate an assistant coordinator for each building the agency occupies. By July 1, 2012, and in each year thereafter, the lead recycling coordinator for each agency is required to submit a report to the head of its agency and to DSNY “summarizing actions taken to implement the waste prevention, reuse, and recycling plan for the previous twelve-month reporting period, proposed actions to be taken to implement such plan, and updates or changes to any information included in such plan.”
In addition, Local Law 36 requires the commissioner of DSNY to adopt, amend, and implement regulations governing recycling by City mayoral and non-mayoral agencies. DSNY is also responsible for consolidating the information contained in agency reports and including this information in the department’s annual recycling report.
Results
Our audit found that DCP did not comply with Local Law 36. Although DCP source separates its recyclable materials, we found that DCP did not establish a waste prevention, reuse and recycling plan. Further, we found that DCP did not designate any assistant coordinators for its occupied buildings as required by Local Law 36.
In addition to these findings, we observed that DCP has made additional efforts to address waste prevention, reuse, and safe handling of hazardous waste beyond the requirements of the local law. Specifically, DCP has set the office printers to duplex printing to reduce its paper usage. DCP participates in a city operated program called “Materials for the Arts” by donating its unwanted office supplies, such as foam core presentation boards, for reuse. DCP also participates in a city-wide contract for the disposal of batteries and other hazardous wastes. These measures were taken in accordance with DSNY’s additional guidelines enacted pursuant to Local Law 36.
The audit recommended that DCP prepare its waste prevention, reuse and recycling plan as soon as practical and submit the required annual reports to its Director and DSNY by July 1st of each year. We also recommend that DCP designate additional assistant coordinators as required by Local Law 36.
Agency Response
DCP agreed with the recommendations and has taken steps during the course of the audit to implement them.