Letter Report on the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development’s Compliance with Local Law 36

Letter Report on the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development’s 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 Youth and Community Development’s (“DYCD”) with Local Law 36, which governs waste prevention, reuse and recycling by City agencies.  The objective of this audit is to determine if DYCD 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 DYCD 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 DYCD 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

We found that that DYCD generally complies with Local Law 36.  DYCD 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.  However, we found no evidence that DYCD submitted its 2012 annual report to its Commissioner or to DSNY as required.

In addition to these findings, we observed that DYCD has made additional efforts to address waste prevention, reuse and safe handling of hazardous waste.  DYCD has instituted double-sided copying as a default setting and requested contractors to submit proposals electronically.  All procurements are listed on DYCD’s website where potential vendors are referred for information rather than provided individually on paper through the mail.  Lastly, DYCD participates in a City-wide contract for hazardous waste disposal by an independent contractor and also participates in City-wide training for the safe handling of hazardous materials.  These measures were taken in accordance with DSNY’s additional guidelines enacted pursuant to Local Law 36.

The audit recommended that DYCD ensure that all future annual reports will be submitted to its agency’s Commissioner and to DSNY

Agency response

The agency acknowledged that “it did not submit an annual report for Fiscal Year 2012 and will take all appropriate steps to ensure that all future annual reports are submitted on a timely basis.”.