Managing Waste Management
“The city’s streets are overflowing with garbage and trash bags. This invites rodents. Rats, mice, cockroaches, and more. Many people would agree that rats are unofficial residents of the city. They don’t even have to pay rent, and they eat for free. With so many people, it is no surprise that this city has a serious garbage problem.”
Source: NY1/Juan Manuel Benitez
New York City is best known for its subways, skyscrapers, and luxurious landmarks that attract millions of residents and tourists alike. Beyond this, though, are issues of significant challenges related to its waste management and garbage accumulation. The city’s streets are overflowing with garbage and trash bags. This invites rodents. Rats, mice, cockroaches, and more. Many people would agree that rats are unofficial residents of the city. They don’t even have to pay rent, and they eat for free. With so many people, it is no surprise that this city has a serious garbage problem.
Garbage accumulation in NYC has been a problem for decades. The city has tried numerous methods to improve it, but the situation remains unchanged. Our community, Soundview, has many irresponsible pet owners who do not clean up after their pets, as well as people who throw litter on the street and sidewalks. Over time, trash has progressively gotten worse.
We’ve asked a couple of our close friends what word would they use to describe NYC. Tyler Dabideen had said that when the city is full of trash, it is “unsanitary,” “nasty” and “hazardous.” He also agreed that it's not good for the environment. “I remember walking downtown and a rat came up and sniffed my shoe,” said another student.
Litter baskets are trash cans available for waste disposal on street corners. Sometimes those baskets overflow with garbage, making them unusable, or people completely ignore them. While not everyone litters, the large number of people who do poses a problem. This issue appears to occur in specific areas of the city, away from downtown. Such littering is all over the Bronx.
Community
Living in places where there is a lot of trash can make people feel uneasy about the state of their community. Most of these communities that are full of trash are also where a number of residents are low-income. Over time, an absurd amount of trash has accumulated on their streets. This graph, as of 2018, shows that in New York City, the South Bronx has the most commercial waste per neighborhood. The South Bronx is also the lowest income district in the Bronx. That similarity can’t be a coincidence.
In one article, The Bronx Times stated: “Comprised of 98% Black and Latino families according to census data — [The South Bronx] is one of the most poverty-stricken and job-needy districts in the U.S., where more than 40% of the region’s children live in poverty.”
Given that the majority of residents are unemployed and live in poverty, the area may be less appealing to maintain and clean. It would take a very long time to renovate this space and give it a nicer appearance. However, addressing the unemployment rate must come before addressing the waste problem. Lack of employment may have an impact on garbage accumulation. “The city must take steps to strengthen career opportunities for young job seekers or the city’s economic recovery will be stifled even further,” said Thomas DiNapoli, the New York State Comptroller.
We took this photo beneath Elder Avenue, underneath New York City's 6 train station, and beside the crowded bus stop that serves the 4, 4A, and 27 buses. Here, there were piles of trash. In the background of this photo you can see a litter can that's filled with garbage to the brim. There were more piles of trash that weren't present in this photo. Considering that Briana lives in the neighborhood, she stated that trash placements like the one shown in the photo are a daily occurrence.
We spoke with Ms. Elle, our school's health instructor. Ms. Elle photographed locations of trash left on streets and tweeted the pictures along with the coordinates tagging the mayor, 311, and New York sanitation. "Every single time I made a complaint, and that's probably 25 times, they always said we took care of it. We went to that place that you said, and we didn't see any trash, so we’re closing this complaint.” Briana asked her if she ever believed what they said and Ms. Elle responded “No, I do not,” with much disappointment.
When Ms. Elle would eventually go back to one of these locations to see if they were right, they weren’t. “If I were a tourist here I would be like what's the matter with this place? Why are they living in filth?”
“Since we’ve came back from Covid, I feel like there's been a sharp increase in a lack of management in sanitation.” Ms. Elle stated. We asked if she believed that over time since she first came here in 1986 if the garbage issue has increased and she agreed. Overall it’s been a facade of the buildings in midtown. Luxurious buildings in midtown would have a nice immaculate appeal to the front of the building; however, in the back, those same buildings would just be covered in trash.
The City’s Methods
Around 8 years ago, when us seniors were only in the 5th grade, the mayor proposed the Zero Waste Challenge, to help large waste-generating businesses strive to reach zero waste to landfill and incineration. The plan is to eliminate taking trash to landfills by 2030. Instead, trash would be taken to waste-to-energy facilities, where trash is burned and converted into energy through incineration. If businesses participated, they would be recognized as leaders in environmentally sustainable waste management.
ZWC (Zero Waste Challenge) participants donated leftover edible food to try and help end hunger in NYC. Most businesses in the city were required to recycle metal, glass, plastic, beverage cartons, paper, and cardboard. Those trash cans in school that have signs separating cartoons and liquids came from the ZWC. This was when composting was getting recognition, and when it made people think twice about where they throw their garbage out. Many businesses participated in this proposal – more than 31 businesses at 39 locations across all five boroughs, according to zerowaste.com.
Not only did this initiative make people recycle better, but they made plastic bags less and less common in most retail stores. The plastic bag was and still is a major issue in our city, especially in regard to street litter, sewage, recycling facilities and of course our water. Paper, and cloth bags became disposable for free or of charge in many stores. The DSNY even has a website where you can sign up and get a free Zero Waste reusable bag.
Two years ago, after the ZWC was considered normal to many, Mayor Eric Adams launched a new method that the city is trying to do to keep our streets cleaner. The method is called “Getting Stuff Clean” where they invested $14.5 million dollars to clean neglected areas around the city. The city proposed 200 new DSNY workers to inspect and clean sewer grates, as well as camera enforcement against the scourge of illegal dumping. People engaged in illegal dumping now can face fines and more.
There are also now more litter baskets at the entrances of bridges and along the perimeters of city parks. According to nyc.gov: “The Phase One of the litter basket service plan that went into effect on July 1st [2022] is already showing promising results: A 55 percent reduction in litter basket complaints.” “As children, families, or any New Yorker strolls through their neighborhood, they deserve a clean environment,” said the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, Anne Williams-Isom.
Environmental Issues
Many of you may be aware of how trash affects the environment. It increases the likelihood of climate change, which can lead to health problems. Asthma, cancer, pneumonia, immune system issues, and other respiratory diseases are a few of these, but there are many more. For many this raises some questions. Why do people continue to contribute to the problem despite being aware of these issues? People may not simply be concerned. That is reality. Not a huge deal if it doesn't have any impact on them. Many people will think, I won’t be here for future generations, why should I care?
The dirtier the neighborhood, the dirtier it gets. And with health risks associated with cleaning neighborhoods, the workers might simply just give up. The city has around 7000 or more sanitation workers, and so, what does it mean to be a sanitation worker? According to the National Library of Medicine “ the health risks and outcomes associated with exposure to occupational risk factors among sanitation workers are neither well understood nor well quantified.” In 2019 sanitation work was the fifth most dangerous job in America. If we cleaned the whole city overnight (which would be very difficult) the city would most likely get back to that amount in just a couple of days.
Waste Management
You might be wondering why our article is called Managing Waste Management. Well since there's a problem, we want to share ideas of how this can change and make the Bronx better. Over 14 million tons of trash is accumulated per year as of 2022. These tons of trash reach transfer stations to ship that garbage outside the city, due to no landfills and incinerators left in the Bronx. The ships will then take the garbage someplace else.
This is efficient. No landfill and incinerators means very low pollution with garbage. Except that the pollution doesn’t affect us New Yorkers; it drastically affects the people in Newark, New Jersey, where the garbage gets burned for power. The Zero Waste Plan mentioned earlier is a perfect solution and the right step towards the future. If we make it stronger and more strict, it will help us as well as lowering the pollution in Newark. Many landfills that are now gone in the city are slowly turning greener; soon they are going to become beautiful parks. But there are other ways to make garbage not produce any pollution.
Source: Castlerock Asia
Singapore’s waste to energy plants are an eyesore. Trash that is burned is filtered through a fabric filter, which not only generates electricity, but it’s safer. Allegedly. These energy plants produce more greenhouse gas than regular natural gas. But with enough research and resources, New work can bring back waste to energy plants and filter the trash, but instead keep the air safe for all.
Singapore also used leftover ash and made a “trash island”. Instead of an island the city could make some more parks or other developments with ash. This would make Newark residents breathe better and decrease the travel distance garbage would have to go, if they place these energy plants in the City.
We are New Yorkers. We’ve been living like this for hundreds of years. It’s time we try a little harder and make future generations walk on clean sidewalks. Throw out your garbage in a trash bin. If there isn’t any nearby, carry it until you find one. Try your best to follow the zero waste plan. Your kids and grandkids will appreciate every action you do to make NYC a better place.