File #: Res 1321-2020    Version: * Name: Requiring putrescible and non-putrescible waste to be covered by a hard tarp when transported by rail. (A.03269 and S.02490)
Type: Resolution Status: Filed (End of Session)
Committee: Committee on Environmental Protection
On agenda: 5/13/2020
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the State Legislature to pass, and Governor to sign, A.03269 and S.02490, requiring putrescible and non-putrescible waste to be covered by a hard tarp when transported by rail.
Sponsors: Robert F. Holden, Kalman Yeger
Council Member Sponsors: 2
Attachments: 1. Res. No. 1321, 2. May 13, 2020 - Stated Meeting Agenda with Links to Files, 3. Hearing Transcript - Stated Meeting 5-13-20, 4. Minutes of the Stated Meeting - May 13, 2020

Res. No. 1321

 

Resolution calling upon the State Legislature to pass, and Governor to sign, A.03269 and S.02490, requiring putrescible and non-putrescible waste to be covered by a hard tarp when transported by rail.

 

By Council Members Holden and Yeger

 

Whereas, New York City (City) has no active sanitary landfills, no construction and demolition debris landfills, no  traditional incinerators, and very limited waste-to-energy resource recovery facilities, necessitating that most refuse be exported from the City for disposal; and

Whereas, New York City’s 2006 Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan initiated a shift from truck based methods of long haul waste export to freight and marine based transport alternatives, in order to reduce the environmental impacts of long haul truck carting; and

Whereas, In 2019, the City produced over 3.2 million tons of refuse, approximately 75 percent of which was sent to landfill; and

Whereas, The City produces approximately 1,400 tons of dewatered biosolids, which is treated sewage sludge, reclaimed from the wastewater treatment process, every day; and

Whereas, Approximately 89 percent of the biosolids produced within New York State are sent to landfills within state bounds; and

Whereas, Despite requirements necessitating that municipal solid waste shipped via rail be transported in sealed containers, complaints about odor management and refuse blowing onto properties persist in adjacent route communities; and

Whereas, Putrescible waste, defined as solid wastes that contain organic matter having the tendency to decompose and form malodorous by-products, have the potential to attract vermin when improperly secured; and

Whereas, Requiring putrescible and non-putrescible waste to be covered by a hard tarp when transported by rail, as per legislation A.03269, and S.02490, introduced by Assembly Member Brian Barnwell and State Senator Joseph Addabbo, has the potential to better contain odor and loose refuse, resulting in fewer disturbances to communities through which this waste transits; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the State Legislature to pass, and Governor to sign, A.03269 and S.02490, requiring putrescible and non-putrescible waste to be covered by a hard tarp when transported by rail

NRC

LS# 14232

3/30/20