Letter Report on the New York City Law Department’s Compliance with Local Law 36

 Letter Report In Brief

This brief summarizes our audit findings regarding the compliance by the New York City Law Department’s (the “Law Department”) with Local Law 36, which governs waste prevention, reuse and recycling by City agencies.  The objective of this audit is to determine if the Law Department 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 the Law Department to follow additional recycling rules established by the Department of Sanitation for the City of New York (“DNSY”) pursuant to Local Law 36.  Our audit of the Law Department 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 the Law Department fully complies with Local Law 36.  The Law Department 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 the Law Department has made additional efforts to address waste prevention, reuse, and safe handling of hazardous waste beyond the requirements of the local law.  Specifically, the Law Department participates in a City-wide contract for hazardous waste pickups by an independent contractor and also participates in City-wide training for the safe handling of hazardous materials.

Agency response

The agency agreed with the report.