Letter Report on the New York City Office of Emergency Management’s Compliance with Local law 36

Letter Report In Brief

This brief summarizes our audit findings regarding the compliance by the New York City Office of Emergency Management’s (“OCME”) with Local Law 36, which governs waste prevention, reuse and recycling by City agencies.  The objective of this audit was to determine if OCME 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 OCME to follow additional recycling rules established by the Department of Sanitation (“DSNY”) pursuant to Local Law 36.

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 OEM generally complies with Local Law 36.  However, we found that OEM did not submit its waste prevention, reuse and recycling plan to DSNY until the fall of 2013, after this audit had commenced, notwithstanding Local Law 36’s requirement that such a plan be submitted to DSNY by no later than July 1, 2011.  In addition, OEM did not submit its annual reports to its Executive Director and DSNY as required by the local law.

In addition to these findings, we observed that OEM has made additional efforts to address waste prevention, reuse, and safe handling of hazardous waste beyond the requirements of the Local Law 36.  Specifically, OEM participates in a City-wide contract for hazardous waste pickups by an independent contractor.  OEM is also involved with a Waste Match program where unused items can be better utilized and hence, reduces the waste stream.  These measures were taken in accordance with DSNY’s additional guidelines enacted pursuant to Local Law 36.

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

Agency response

The agency agreed with the report and stated it “will comply with the requirement.”