Letter Report on the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings’ Compliance with Local Law 36

Executive Summary

The audit determined whether the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings’ (OATH) complied with Local Law 36, which governs waste prevention, reuse and recycling by City agencies.  The objective of this audit was to determine whether OATH 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, the audit noted efforts OATH made to follow recycling rules established by the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) pursuant to Local Law 36.  Our audit of OATH is one in a series of audits we are conducting on the City’s 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.  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 agency’s annual recycling report.

Results

The audit found that OATH generally complied with Local Law 36.  However, the audit found that OATH did not establish a waste prevention, reuse and recycling plan until October 2013, notwithstanding that Local Law 36 requires such a plan to have been submitted to DSNY no later than July 1, 2011.  The audit further found that OATH did not submit the required annual reports to its Commissioner or to DSNY for Fiscal Years 2012 and 2013.

The audit recommend that OATH submit the annual reports to its Commissioner and DSNY by July 1st of each year as required by Local Law 36.

In its written response, OATH agreed with the audit findings and said it “will take the recommendations in the report into consideration.”   OATH also stated that it “only became aware of this requirement in 2013.  Since that time OATH has been in compliance with Local Law 36.”