#issue 280

Last week, DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd joined, Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Nilda Mesa, and Director of GreeNYC, Roya Kazemi to launch the City’s newest campaign aimed at reducing consumer waste. The campaign, “B.Y.O.,” is part of the GreeNYC initiative to promote living a less disposable life by encouraging the use of reusable mugs, bottles and bags rather than their disposable counterparts.

The New York City Department of Sanitation collects more than 3 million tons of waste annually, including 10 billion single-use bags, 315,000 tons of paper for recycling, and about 800 million bottles of water. On average, Sanitation collects more than 1,700 tons of single-use carryout bags per week, which adds up to more than 90,000 tons per year. Furthermore, paper bags, though easily recyclable in the City’s curbside recycling program, are currently only recycled about 5 percent of the time.

When it comes to single-use plastic bottles here are some interesting facts: It takes roughly 1.5 million barrels of oil a year to produce plastic bottles in the United States—enough to power 250,000 homes or 100,000 cars all year. In New York City we are fortunate to have some of the highest quality tap water on the planet, and it happens to be about 1,000 times less expensive than bottled water.

In addition to beautifying our streets, subway system, parks and, beaches, reducing consumption of disposable coffee cups, plastic bottles and bags will help with the depletion of natural resources, carbon emissions associated with the production and transportation of the items, and the impacts associated with transporting and landfilling the waste. Moreover, using reusable items makes economic sense. For example, it costs the city $12.5 million per year to dispose of single-use carryout bags in landfills outside of the city. 

To encourage New Yorkers to live less disposable lives and reduce the amount of waste that requires landfilling each year, the City is enacting several waste prevention opportunities including designing and installing public water fountains to accommodate reusable bottles, promoting the use of reusable bags through signage, pledges to reuse, and the distribution of reusable bags and water bottles at events throughout the city.

A similar GreeNYC campaign aimed at influencing consumer behavior is already proving effective. The “Stop Junk Mail” tool launched on nyc.gov/greenyc last year has contributed to a total of 5.8 million pounds of consumer paper waste being diverted from the waste stream through New Yorkers opting out of unwanted catalogs and other mail.

GreeNYC is launching the B.Y.O awareness campaign through bus, subway and digital ads, in radio public service announcements, and on billboards and Sanitation trucks reminding New Yorkers to bring reusable mugs, bottles and bags when they’re on the go. GreeNYC is also working with small businesses in all five boroughs, in partnership with the Department of Small Business Services, to encourage them to post signage demonstrating their commitment to improving the environment and remind customers to bring their own mugs, bottles and bags when visiting.