Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management meeting
April 6, 2026, 10:00 AM
The Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management held an oversight hearing on the city's draft 2026-2036 Solid Waste Management Plan and heard two related items: Int 0355, requiring city agencies to participate in organic waste recycling programs, and Res 0125, calling on the State Legislature to require composting programs at SUNY and CUNY facilities. No votes were taken.
What was discussed
- Committee gavels in and swears in the Sanitation Department panel The Sergeant at Arms opened the session and Chairperson Pierina Ana Sanchez gaveled in the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management's oversight hearing on the draft 2026-2036 Solid Waste Management Plan; the Committee Counsel swore in the Department of Sanitation witnesses.
- Commissioner Anderson opens on DSNY's role and the plan's 20-year arc Commissioner Gregory Anderson, recently reappointed to lead the Department of Sanitation, introduced the draft 2026-2036 plan as the successor to the 2006 SWMP and said the 2006 plan's marine transfer station network was largely completed in 2019 with the opening of the East 91st Street station.
- How did DSNY review the public comments, and when will its responses be published? Commissioner Anderson said the agency received 800 individual comments across 62 submissions covering about 300 topic areas, that two staff led the review, and that DSNY's written responses would be attached to the revised draft SWMP later that month; he noted a revised draft had been posted the
- What is the timeline for state DEC review before the plan can be finalized? Commissioner Anderson said the state Department of Environmental Conservation has a 120-day review period ending in late summer and that, on the current timeline, DSNY does not expect to need an extension beyond October; he committed to keeping the Council informed as the draft is revised.
- Does the plan concentrate the waste burden on low-income and immigrant neighborhoods? Council Member Susan Zhuang pressed on the Southwest Brooklyn Marine Transfer Station in her district, its odors and her community's high asthma rates; Commissioner Anderson and Chairperson Sanchez replied that borough equity was a core aim of the 2006 plan, spreading transfer capacity across more
- Does DSNY have the budget and staff to hit the plan's waste-reduction targets? Council Member Virginia Maloney asked how DSNY measures its waste-reduction and education efforts and whether it has adequate resources; Commissioner Anderson said statewide extended producer responsibility (EPR) is the most important lever, pointed to the plan's Current Conditions data, and said
- How many community recycling events is DSNY holding under Local Law 88? Executive Director Katherine Kitchener said DSNY holds 59 recycling events a year, one in every community district, in compliance with Local Law 88 of 2023, and directed residents to nyc.gov/recyclingevents.
- How do diversion rates differ between environmental-justice and other neighborhoods? Commissioner Anderson said diversion rates track neighborhood density more than anything else and acknowledged the rate is higher on the Upper West Side than in Hunts Point, pointing to the 2023 waste characterization study for finer analysis.
- Will DSNY collect organics more often and target education where diversion lags? Council Member Gale A. Brewer urged more frequent organics pickup and asked about school recycling; Commissioner Anderson said more frequent collection would require added resources but he was willing to study it, that education is focused on low-diversion areas and buildings with repeat violations
- How is DSNY handling waste and composting at NYCHA? Responding to Council Member Brewer and Chairperson Sanchez, Commissioner Anderson said DSNY would welcome a composting facility if a Rikers Island wastewater site opened up (a DEP matter), and Deputy Commissioner Jennifer McDonnell said NYCHA was an engaged stakeholder in the draft plan and had
- What will it take to capture the third of city waste that is organic? Chairperson Sanchez pressed on low organics diversion; Commissioner Anderson said the capture rate for designated recyclables is around 50%, that boosting resident participation is the priority, that free brown bins are no longer distributed because buildings must now buy compliant bins, and that
- How will commercial waste zones and partnerships lift the 4% restaurant organics rate? Commissioner Anderson said commercial waste zones, which require carters to charge less for composting and recycling than for trash, should lift the roughly 4% restaurant organics rate; he described DSNY's composting sites as public-private partnerships and said the plan accounts for biosolids
- What is DSNY doing on senior bin access, e-waste reuse, and construction debris? Council Member Shahana K. Hanif asked about bin access and outreach for seniors and people with disabilities, e-waste and furniture reuse, and construction-and-demolition (C&D) waste; Commissioner Anderson said there were no senior-specific programs yet but he was open to building them, that
- Why is construction and demolition waste exempt from commercial recycling rules? Commissioner Anderson said C&D, which is roughly half the city's waste, was left out of Local Law 199 because that law targeted the more predictable curbside and containerized commercial stream, and that the next commercial waste characterization study follows a 2028 residential study, putting the
- Can DSNY expand rewards and enforcement for illegal dumping? Council Member Shanel Thomas-Henry asked about catching illegal dumpers; Commissioner Anderson said the camera program, scaled up under his predecessor in 2022, has been successful, that affidavit enforcement currently requires a vehicle, and that dumping fines go to the general fund rather than
- Will seniors get help buying bins, and what will Res 125 cost CUNY and SUNY? Council Member Susan Zhuang raised seniors' difficulty obtaining required bins and asked about the cost of Res 125's call for campus composting; Commissioner Anderson said bin-delivery problems predating him were resolved and offered to enlist local retailers, said DSNY had no specific cost estimate
- Can DSNY pilot multi-stream public-space recycling stations? Commissioner Anderson said past public-space recycling programs largely failed where recycling baskets sat next to regular litter baskets, making him cautious about a multi-stream street-recycling pilot.
- Where do in-sink food disposers and battery recycling fit in? Council Member Brewer asked about in-sink food disposers and battery/e-waste hazards; Commissioner Anderson said residential food disposers are legal (grease should still be kept out of sinks), that batteries and e-waste are regulated under state law with the battery law recently updated for safety
- Has DSNY studied pay-as-you-throw or other ways to cut the cost per ton? Commissioner Anderson said DSNY has not formally studied a save-as-you-throw/pay-as-you-throw model, that there is room for competitive bidding but disposal costs are unlikely to fall given tightening regional capacity and regulation, and that New York's system is deliberately not built to be the
- Will DSNY commit to ending its waste-incineration contracts? Commissioner Anderson declined to commit to non-renewal of incineration (waste-to-energy) contracts, saying the city must manage the waste New Yorkers generate; he said statewide EPR is the best waste-reduction step, that New York City has not operated incinerators since 1992 so local public-health
Agenda
3 items
- T2026-1476 Oversight - Finalizing the City’s Draft 2026-2036 Solid Waste Management Plan. Hearing Held by Committee
- Int 0355-2026 A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to organic waste recycling by city agencies Hearing Held by Committee
- Res 0125-2026 Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, S.2285, to require the establishment of a composting program at dormitories, dining facilities, and other facilities owned, occupied, or operated by the State University of New York, the City University of New Hearing Held by Committee