Letter Report On The New York City Department Of Design And Construction’s Compliance With Local Law 36
Letter Report On The New York City Department Of Design And Construction’s Compliance With Local Law 36
LETTER REPORT IN BRIEF
This brief summarizes our audit findings regarding the compliance by the New York City Department of Design and Construction (“DDC”) with Local Law 36, which governs waste prevention, reuse and recycling by City agencies. The objective of this audit is to determine if DDC 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 DDC 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 DDC 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 DDC generally complies with Local Law 36. DDC source separates its recyclable materials, and has designated a lead recycling/sustainability coordinator and assistant coordinator. DDC has established an agency waste collection, reuse, and recycling plan in December 2011 but the plan did not include information on waste prevention and reuse efforts. In addition, we found that DDC did not submit the annual reports to its Commissioner or to DSNY as required. Further, we noted from one of our site observations that the recycling containers were missing proper signage and were collecting a mixture of waste materials.
In addition to these findings, we observed that DDC has made additional efforts to address waste prevention, reuse and safe handling of hazardous waste beyond the requirements of the local law. Specifically, DDC participates in the citywide contract with an independent contractor for the disposal of hazardous waste. DDC also follow the City guidelines and participates in a public auction program for the disposal of its unused furniture and other surplus assets. These observations are based on DSNY’s additional guidelines.
The audit recommended that DDC update its waste prevention, reuse and recycling plan and submit the required annual report to its Commissioner and DSNY by July 1st of each year. We also recommend that DDC label each recycling container to indicate what recyclable materials to recycle in the given container.
Agency response
DDC is in agreement with the findings and will comply with the recommendations. In addition, DDC expressed a concern that it did not have an opportunity to clear “up any confusion or misinformation” at an exit conference.
Auditor comment
The auditors met with DDC’s Recycling Officials on February 5, 2014 to discuss the audit findings. Again, on August 11, 2014, prior to the issuance of the draft report, an email was sent to DDC to reiterate the audit findings and to give DDC another opportunity to voice any concerns. Throughout the audit process, the auditors had an open and transparent dialogue with DDC officials.