Letter Report on the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ Compliance with Local Law 36

Letter Report on the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ Compliance with Local Law 36

June 30, 2014

LETTER REPORT IN BRIEF

This brief summarizes our audit findings regarding the compliance by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ (DCLA) with Local Law 36, which governs waste prevention, reuse, and recycling by City agencies. The objective of this audit is to determine if DCLA is complying 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 DCLA 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 DCLA 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 DCLA generally complies with Local Law 36.  Pursuant to Local Law 36, DCLA was supposed to have submitted a waste prevention, reuse and recycling plan no later than July 1, 2011 and we found that such a plan was submitted by the deadline.  We also found that DCLA was in compliance with certain Local Law 36 requirements such as recycling designated materials.  However, we found no evidence that DCLA submitted its annual 2012 and 2013 required reports to its Commissioner or to DSNY as required.

In addition to these findings, we observed that DCLA has made additional efforts to address waste prevention, reuse, and safe handling of hazardous waste beyond the requirements of Local Law 36.  DCLA has made its recycle program information available online. DCLA has also established a sustainability or “green team” with a working group and executive committee to support its coordinator.  Further, DCLA runs an educational program called the Materials for the Arts (MFTA) where many different types of unused recyclable materials are collected and used for educational purposes.  Through this program, DCLA has been able to integrate education and waste reduction efforts in addition to demonstrating many recycling and waste prevention best practices. 

The audit recommended that DCLA submit the required annual report to its Executive Director and DSNY by July 1st of each year as required by Local Law 36

Agency response

The agency stated that it “is in agreement and will take necessary steps to address this each year.”