New York State’s recycling data is garbage, according to a new report by the state comptroller.<\/p>\n
The Department of Environmental Conservation requires the roughly 400 statewide refuse facilities to file annual reports about the waste they bring in, including how much of it is diverted to recycling. But an audit by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli of the department\u2019s records from 2021 to 2023 show nearly a third of the reports were missing.<\/p>\n
The audit found the department lacks data<\/a> on how much recycling is happening in New York, as well as erroneous and missing information and inconsistencies in the agency\u2019s reporting and oversight methods. Overall, the audit found the state can\u2019t reliably measure how much waste is recycled.<\/p>\n \u201cReliable recycling data is essential to understanding how much waste is being diverted from landfills and incinerators through recycling,\u201d DiNapoli said in the report. \u201cIf recycling data is incomplete or inaccurate, the state can\u2019t effectively evaluate whether recycling efforts are working or track their impact in reducing waste and its environmental impact.\u201d<\/p>\n The audit included a response from the Department of Environmental Conservation. It accepted the audit\u2019s analysis, and said it will take appropriate action to improve data collection, reliability and inspection. But the agency also said that the report inflated its claims of reporting deficiencies.<\/p>\n The agency uses the annual reports to calculate the state\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions. The conservation department estimates that solid waste is about 12% of statewide climate pollution. But the audit\u2019s findings suggest the greenhouse gas emissions in New York are likely much higher, advocates said.<\/p>\n \u201dThe state is flying blind because it doesn’t have good data to rely on in terms of how well the recycling efforts are working,\u201d said Blair Horner, senior policy adviser at the advocacy nonprofit New York Public Interest Research Group. \u201cWhat better evidence is there of a lack of energy to enforce a program than the fact that the most basic elements of it are either ignored or poorly implemented? And you can’t hold yourself or the public can’t hold the administration accountable unless they have good data.\u201d<\/p>\n The recycling records collected by the state are plagued with unverified data, the auditors found. The conservation department did not verify much of the information it received and the facilities submitting the data could not provide paperwork to substantiate how much was recycled, according to the audit. Many facility reports did not include how much solid waste was discarded rather than recycled.<\/p>\n Overall, facilities were only able to provide adequate records for about 21% of the recyclables received and about 6% of what was bound for landfill and other final disposal methods.<\/p>\n \u201cDEC regulations do not require facilities to provide supporting documentation along with their annual reports but do require facilities to attest to the accuracy of the information provided on the accompanying forms,\u201d the department wrote in its response.<\/p>\n The department did not perform inspections on more than one-third of facilities statewide during the three-year period analyzed by the audit. The comptroller\u2019s office said that inspections are necessary for confirming information submitted by facilities and pinpointing any compliance issues.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can’t solve a problem unless you try to do it, and to create a system where the public can hold the government accountable for whether or not it’s meeting the goals that it says it wants to meet,\u201d Horner said. \u201cBoth of those are missing, at least so far right now.\u201d<\/p>\n The annual reports are also used to assess the progress of the state\u2019s solid waste reduction goals. According to the Department of Environmental Conservation, nearly 80% of what is thrown-out as trash still has value, as recycling or composting. The state\u2019s goal is to reduce waste by 85% by 2050. The statewide recycling rates range from 15 to 21%<\/a> despite the fact that nearly all households have access to recycling services.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aYou want to maximize the level of recycling and ensure the people who are doing this work are doing what they’re actually supposed to be doing,\u201d said Tina Kim, deputy comptroller of the division of state government accountability. \u201cYou can’t successfully manage a program without basically having complete and accurate data.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York State’s recycling data is garbage, according to a new report by the state comptroller. The Department…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-810593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}