audit<\/a> from the New York State Comptroller\u2019s Office.<\/p>\nAuditors found the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) \u201clacks reliable information on how much material is recycled across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReliable recycling data is essential to understanding how much waste is being diverted from landfills and incinerators through recycling,\u201d said state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to know if we\u2019re going to meet our climate goals since recycling is a big impact of preventing climate change and we know that solid waste accounts for 12% of state greenhouse gas emissions,\u201d said Mary Mueller, spokesperson for the New York State Comptroller\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
The DEC audit was from January 2021 to December 2023.<\/p>\n
During that time, the Comptroller\u2019s Office said:<\/p>\n
Recycling facilities should have submitted 1,065 annual reports, but auditors found DEC didn\u2019t receive 341 of them, or nearly one-third of the total required.
\nAuditors found recycling facilities couldn\u2019t always verify the information reported to DEC.
\n138 of 389 registered and permitted recycling facilities or 35% were not inspected during the three-year audit period.<\/p>\n
Environmental advocates tell Spectrum News 1 the audit results don\u2019t surprise them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are legally required to regulate these facilities,\u201d said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics. \u201cThe next step after the material recovery facility is where is the cardboard, the metal, the glass being sent to actually be recycled?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMore clarity needs to be provided by the state on what counts, what doesn\u2019t count,\u201d said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. \u201cWe also think in all fairness, the DEC probably needs more staff to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Audit recommendations include DEC improve the reliability of facility data, develop procedures to verify annual reporting, and strengthen inspection procedures.<\/p>\n
According to the Comptroller\u2019s Office, DEC was accepting of the audit\u2019s findings, and said it will take \u201cappropriate action,\u201d but claimed, \u201cthe audit overstated reporting deficiencies and disputed aspects of the report.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to Spectrum News 1, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said:\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is committed to overseeing the effective regulation of solid waste management facilities and enforcement of the State\u2019s environmental laws and regulations to protect public health and the environment.<\/p>\n
DEC implements solid waste facility regulations and oversees Recyclables Handling and Recovery Facilities (RHRFs) statewide, which process millions of tons of recyclable materials to create new products and reduce waste sent to landfills.<\/p>\n
DEC staff advance waste reduction through public outreach efforts that promote the reduction of single-use containers, utensils, and packaging. Additionally, DEC has partnered with the State University of New York (SUNY) to determine increased marketability for various recyclables, especially glass and plastics.<\/p>\n
DEC is committed to ensuring solid waste management facilities (including RHRFs) comply with regulatory requirements and operate in an environmentally safe manner. DEC appreciates the Office of the State Comptroller\u2019s (OSC) efforts to strengthen oversight and build on DEC\u2019s successes, and DEC will look to implement the suggested recommendations.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state of New York has a solid waste problem. At least when it comes to tracking it.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3242,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,5304,112,87,200],"class_list":["post-318467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-environment","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news","tag-nicole-neuman","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-politics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}