NYC Chapter of the National Waste & Recycling Association Responds To Citizens Budget Commission’s Recommendations for Commercial Waste Removal

NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2014 /3BL Media/ — The National Waste & Recycling Association (NW&RA) strongly disagrees with a recommendation in a Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) report to franchise commercial waste in New York City. NW&RA believes there would not be any cost savings, noting the CBC does not adequately explain how it calculated what it called a “modest” $26 million savings from franchising and their report admits that “the high number of private-sector waste carters in the city has kept prices relatively low.”

Thomas N. Toscano, the Chair of NW&RA’s New York City Chapter and the Chief Financial Officer of Mr. T Carting, a family-owned and operated private waste management recycling business serving the New York Metro area, said, “Contrary to the CBC’s suggestion, assigning commercial franchises to a small number of carters in each district will not lead to a reduction in collection costs. Just the opposite will occur. If waste removal is franchised, New York City’s businesses, especially small businesses struggling to survive, will bear the burden because they will pay higher collection costs, This is borne out by the waste industry’s experience around the country. 

Finally, by forcing many local carters—many of them small businesses—to close their doors, commercial franchising will throw thousands of hard-working waste and recycling employees, including many minority workers, out of work.

NW&RA supports other recommendations in the CBC report that would make waste collection in New York City more cost-efficient. We want to work with the DSNY and others to reduce waste collection costs for waste generators in New York City.

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The National Waste & Recycling Association (NW&RA) is the trade association that represents the private sector waste and recycling services industry. Association members conduct business in all 50 states and include companies that collect and manage garbage, recycling and medical waste, equipment manufacturers and distributors and a variety of other service providers. NW&RA’s New York City Chapter is comprised of more than 90 companies, with the majority of the local industry’s employees and trucks. For more information about NW&RA and its NYC Chapter, visit wasterecycling.org/new-york-city.