Mary Ellen Sullivan (SWABs) on Intro 369 and biosolids concerns
Mary Ellen Sullivan of the Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens Solid Waste Advisory Boards strongly supports Intro 369, warning that co-digesting organics with sewage creates contaminated biosolids. She recommends re-establishing a compost siting task force, prioritizing nonprofit composters, and integrating environmental justice and workforce development.
Okay, great.
I am Mary Ellen Sullivan.
The Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens Solid Waste Advisory Board strongly support Intro 369 and its goal to establish local composting capacity in each of the five boroughs.
Intro 369 provides a clear and practical framework for developing a resilient, equitable, and locally-based organics processing infrastructure consistent with the SWAB's ongoing recommendation that New York City should prioritize local composting.
New York City residents and commercial businesses generate almost 2 million tons of organic material annually, with the vast majority of this being sent to landfills, incinerators, or co-digestion facilities.
New York City is losing out on an opportunity to turn our organic waste into something valuable, new jobs, additional tax revenue, reduced environmental harm, and locally made compost to apply in our parks and neighborhoods.
Co-digesting organics with sewage creates more sewage sludge, a waste that is difficult and expensive to dispose of.
Current DEP policy is to maximize beneficial use of biosolid.
That means land application.
Yet municipalities across New York State and the entire country are waking up to the shock of land polluted by biosolids, and they are beginning to oppose this practice and take action.
The policy of our own New York Farm Bureau is to stand in opposition to land application of biosolids that have detectable levels of PFAS, PFOS, and heavy metals.
The solution is obvious, compost our waste organically.
To strengthen Intro 369, we respectfully recommend the following modifications.
Re-establish the compost siting task force so that Section 2B of Intro 369 can be realized.
Explicitly include and prioritize nonprofit organizations, including but not limited to the New York City Compost Network.
as eligible entities to participate in this activity, ensure that facility siting decisions incorporate environmental justice considerations, and avoid the environmental justice errors of our current waste system,
integrate robust public education to the rollout, and integrate workforce development programs into this.
Thank you.