Letter Report on the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Compliance with Local law 36

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This brief summarizes our audit findings regarding the compliance by the New York City Environmental Protection (“DEP”) with Local Law 36, which governs waste prevention, reuse and recycling by City agencies.  The objective of this audit was to determine DEP 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 DEP made to follow additional recycling rules established by the New York City Department of Sanitation (“DNSY”) pursuant to Local Law 36.  Our audit of DEP 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 overarching “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 DSNY Commissioner 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 DEP fully complies with Local Law 36.  We found that DEP source-separates its recyclable materials, has designated a lead recycling/sustainability coordinator and assistant coordinators, and has established an agency waste prevention, reuse and recycling plan which is updated and reported annually.

In addition to these findings, we observed that DEP has made additional efforts to address waste prevention, reuse, and safe handling of hazardous waste beyond the requirements of the local law.  Specifically, DEP has a Recycling Team that focuses on ways to make recycling more accessible and uses its intranet and SharePoint communication systems to share this information and ideas with its employees.  In addition, DEP has integrated its recycling plan into the Agency Recycling and Pollution Prevention Policy to facilitate the recycling process at all of DEP’s facilities.  DEP has also assembled a recycling committee to oversee the strategic implementation of its recycling plan.  Furthermore, DEP’s Audit Department conducts periodic audits and on-site observations to assess compliance with Local Law 36 at each facility.  These measures were taken in accordance with DSNY’s additional guidelines enacted pursuant to Local Law 36.

Agency Response

The agency agreed with the report and stated that it will continue to improve its waste prevention initiative.