NY DEC REPORT UPDATE

New York's Department of Environmental Conservation NYDEC just released their latest update. According to their website, it's been since 1988 that there has been such an update. It's called the Solid Waste Management Plan and it begs for more participation from municipalities and their citizens.  

 Progress is needed in reducing the tremendous amount of waste that New Yorkers generate. The high end of the spectrum is 4 pounds per person. We all know that most of what we throw out could be diverted and taken out of the waste stream. But that would require awareness, education and the desire to actually expend some energy participating.  

The latest campaign is titled Beyond Waste and it describes how materials are currently managed in New York and proposes many new ways for state and local government, businesses, and individual citizens to move toward a more sustainable approach, thereby reducing greenhouse gases, reducing pollution, saving energy, and creating new green jobs. 

I should also point out that for those of us who utilize the Big Belly garbage containers along Broadway, they have just been collected for the winter. I'm curious how they have impacted the the way we gather trash and what, if any, cost savings they have provided. This would be a good test to see how folks on the sidewalk change their trash habits when alternative options are offered but with no educational incentive.       

But getting back to the DEC Plan, It sets out a twenty year goal of reducing the average amount of waste that New Yorkers dispose. 

The plan has been broken into parts for easy downloading:

• Final Beyond Waste Full Report (PDF) (4.4 MB)
• Final Beyond Waste Appendices A-B (PDF) (936 KB)
• Final Beyond Waste Appendix C (PDF) (7 MB)
• Final Beyond Waste Appendices D-F (PDF) (971 KB)
• Final Beyond Waste Appendices G-I (PDF) (874 KB)
• Final Beyond Waste Appendices J-M (PDF) (429 KB)

When you consider the options available to us heading into 2011, we see that our biggest obstacle is the consumer. How can we pound into Americans consciousness that diverting our non-waste can save everyone time, cost and energy. I'm hoping these Reports can help.