Res. No. 174
Resolution calling upon the city of New York to adopt a zero waste policy to be achieved in the long term with leadership, commitment and stabilized funding.
By Council Members Avella, Barron, Brewer, Comrie, DeBlasio, Fidler, Gerson, Katz, Liu, Martinez, McMahon, Monserrate, Moskowitz, Quinn, Rivera, Weprin, Felder, Jackson, Nelson, Gennaro, Koppell, Stewart, Lopez, Perkins, Palma, Reyna and The Public Advocate (Ms. Gotbaum)
Whereas, The placement of materials in waste disposal facilities, such as landfills and incinerators, causes damage to human health, wastes natural resources, and wrongly transfers liabilities to future generations; and
Whereas, Taxpayers and consumers are currently forced to assume high financial costs, for the disposal of New York City’s solid waste; and
Whereas, The current operation of private waste transfer stations are unsustainable, detrimental to public health, inefficient, and inequitably distributed throughout the City; and
Whereas, Our ability to dispose of waste in the future at reasonable rates is increasingly questionable; and
Whereas, An economy based on reducing waste and recovering materials for reuse and remanufacture will create and sustain more productive and meaningful jobs; and
Whereas, Producers should design products to ensure that they can be safely recycled back into the marketplace or nature; and
Whereas, Increasingly, governments and organizations are adopting a policy that the physical and financial responsibility of collecting, recycling and disposing of materials belongs to producers; and
Whereas, The Council of the City of New York supports the development of a Zero Waste Plan for New York City in order to eliminate waste and pollution in the manufacture, use, storage, and recycling of materials; and
Whereas, The Council of the City of New York confirms its commitment to a target of Zero Waste by 2024, with measurable milestones delineated in the 2004 Solid Waste Management Plan, annual progress reports and a complete review in the 2014 Solid Waste Management Plan; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, that the Council of the City of New York calls upon the city of New York to adopt a zero waste policy to be achieved in the long term with leadership, commitment and stabilized funding.