Cabinet Considers Garbage Disposal, West Nile Virus
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

Every day, city residents throw away the equivalent of 12,000 tons of waste. Since there are no longer any landfills or incinerators in New York City, where does it all go?

Much of it, according to the Council on the Environment of New York City, is sent away to landfills in other states. Every year, diesel-driven Sanitation trucks carry garbage from Manhattan alone 7.8 million miles in the course of their pickup rounds.

Paper, glass, metal and plastics are recycled. But only half of what the city is capable of recycling, 17 percent of total waste, is currently being recycled according to the Office of Recycling Outreach and Education, a new program of the Council on the Environment.

In a presentation to the Queens Borough Cabinet on May 15, facts on recycling were presented including: The cost of exporting the city's waste is expected to rise $5.7 million in 2008, not including the cost of collection, and exporting municipal waste for disposal in other communities will cost taxpayers in the city $290 million in 2007.

As such, recycling is a critical component of the city's 20-year plan for handling waste. Currently, paper recycling makes money for the city, with a net of $7.5 million after collection costs- even though almost 15 percent of paper is still thrown out as garbage instead of properly separated for recycling.

In fact, 43 percent of landfill or incinerated trash consists of disposable paper or plastic plates, other packaging and containers, cups, diapers, junk mail, trash bags, tissue paper and towels, mostly because 80 percent of products used in the United States are used once and then thrown away. This results in the U.S. producing 70 percent of the world's solid waste. Landfills are also responsible for 36 percent of all methane emissions in the U.S., methane being one of the most potent causes of global warming.

Another 39 percent of the city's waste is organic material, like food scraps and yard waste. This material should be composted instead of buried in a landfill. Compost is an effective alternative to chemical fertilizers.

The Office of Recycling Outreach and Education encourages the use of recycled materials in new products, to help save energy, reduce greenhouse gases and industrial pollution. More than 90 percent of printing and writing paper is still coming from virgin tree fiber, according to the Office.

For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/sanitation or call 311.

In a second presentation, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) said plans for the prevention and control of West Nile Virus for 2007 are well under way.

Waheed I. Bajwa, Director of the Office of Vector Surveillance and Control, said mosquito surveillance would involve testing of up to 7,500 pools this year. In addition, natural areas such as marshes, ponds, and lakes will be tested, along with 140,000 catch basins.

Aerial spraying will be conducted over large marsh areas of 1,200 to 1,400 acres by helicopter. Six seasonal applications will be conducted from June to July/mid August. For more information, call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/doh.