NEW YORK, NY April 05, 2005 —At a city facility in Queens, thirty people are on a fact-finding mission for the Sanitation Department. They’re here to figure out what New Yorkers get rid of and why.

BARRY BREWER: Lot of paper. Lot of plastic. Styrofoam. Lot of food. We get a lot of animal waste. And a few other things.

Barry Brewer’s one of a team of six guys who stand around a large wooden table, heaped with garbage. They look like surgeons, dressed in white jumpsuits, rubber gloves, goggles and paper masks. Tom Jones is the project manager. He works for R.W. Beck, the consultant doing the study for the sanitation department.

TOM JONES: The reason it’s so important is that the city spends so much money disposing of its trash, and if there’s anything here that they don’t have to, that would be extremely useful to know.

At a council hearing last week, a city economic development official said the city pays 277 million dollars a year to have its garbage trucked to landfills. And that cost is likely to increase, as recent bids for some contracts showed an average fee hike of 24 percent. Mayor Bloomberg’s long-term plan to containerize the waste, and barge or rail it out of town, could raise costs too, to 407 million a year. So there’s a financial incentive to recycle more. And that’s why the city’s studying its garbage. Barry Brewer and his team are sorting their table of trash into 91 different categories.

BREWER: I’m the paper man. Some other guys are plastic man. Some other guys are metal man. Some guys are other things. Organic, waste material, doggie stuff, cat stuff. You know. EDDINGS: So the guys up on the other end of the table will throw their paper down to you? BREWER: Sure, they’ll throw paper to me. I’ll throw metal, whatever, I’ll throw plastics, it’s a system.

This is the second time the city has taken a close look at what New Yorkers throw away. The first waste characterization study was done in 1989. Since then, garbage has changed, and this is reflected in the current study, which will weigh, and in some cases, COUNT, items like disposable razors, cell phones, computers, and single serving beverage containers. It will analyze the city’s garbage and recycling streams by neighborhood density and income, so sanitation officials can see where recycling rates are low, and figure out what to do about it. And it also looks at what’s being put in corner street baskets. Tanya Tarnickee, who’s helping with the study, says that’s where New York’s trash is unique….and anyone who’s tried to hide a renovation project from their landlord will know why.

TARNICKEE: In some of the street basket samples we’ve seen construction and demolition debris. Concrete bricks. Rocks, huge things you wouldn’t expect pedestrians to walk around with in their pockets. Other than that, it’s pretty much standard fare. It’s garbage.

This study won’t be ready until next year, but a preliminary one was done last spring. And sanitation officials are surprised by some of the findings. For one thing, there are ten percent fewer potential recyclables in the trash than was estimated in 1989. And that means New Yorkers are better recyclers than officials had thought, putting 51 percent of their metal, glass, plastic and paper in the recycling bin. In 1989, this “capture rate” was estimated at 40 percent.

There’s also less glass in the recycling stream, and more plastic….11 percent, compared to six percent in 1989.

SAMANTHA MACBRIDE: It just confirms what one can observe anecdotally and also data on product changes..

Samantha MacBride is a senior policy analyst with the Sanitation Department.

MACBRIDE: Although we have a few more Snapple ice teas that come in glass containers, what we really have a lot more of are individual plastic drink bottles that people carry with them and are constantly consuming and throwing away.

Another surprise: people are doing a better job recycling metal, glass and plastic than they are paper….even though glass and plastic recycling was temporarily suspended because of the 2002 fiscal crisis. And while electronics are a big part of our 21st century lives, they make up .9 percent of our garbage. New Yorkers are more likely to shed their clothes and shoes. In Queens, as workers drag their sorting bins to a scale to be weighed, MacBride points to one of the buckets.

EDDINGS: What’s going on there? MACBRIDE: Textiles. Look at that. EDDINGS: Wow. That’s a whole big blue bin filled with clothing. MACBRIDE: And that’s not unusual to see.

Textiles make up nearly seven percent of our waste stream, or 243-thousand tons a year. MacBride calls that a “sizeable chunk.”

What will be done with this information, once it’s collected, is up in the air. Hugo Neu Schnitzer East, the company that’s planning to take all the city’s metal, glass and plastic, says if the amount of glass continues to drop, it may think twice about investing in high-tech processing equipment that improves its value. The city council may change the recycling program to capture more plastics…types that currently aren’t included, like salad bar containers and plastic wrap. And the sanitation department might start a recycling program for old clothing. At market prices of $125 a ton, the city’s recycling director says it shouldn’t be going to waste.