New York City’s Major Trash Problem
Walk through a neighborhood on trash collection day in New York City. The bags can be piled as high as seven feet. And garbage trucks can make streets impassible.
According to Inside Climate News, “A proposal in the state Legislature that would require a steep drop in non-recyclable packaging faces fierce opposition from businesses that would have to meet new package and recycling demands.” It will be costly. How does the city win over enough people to improve it?
The answer is tax credits for establishments that change packaging. However, this means the practice will be spotty.
The problem begs the question of how America’s largest cities can be cleaner. The answer is that cities will need to bear the costs themselves if packaging legislation is rejected. That puts a strain on city budgets, which in many cases is not possible.
New York City produces more trash than any city in the U.S. and perhaps more than any city in the developed world.
According to local officials, “New York City produces more than 14 million tons of waste every year and while there are ongoing attempts to streamline its waste management, as seen with the introduction of the Commercial Waste Zones bill, the city as a whole is still heading in the wrong direction.”
The wrong direction comments tell the story of what even experts believe New York City’s trash problem will get worse.
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