The initiative of recycling waste

The objective of this initiative is to help Islip Town, New York State, reduce the costs and risks involved with solid waste transportation on land. By establishing regional recycling facilities, the Waste Recycling Initiative will reduce the land-based exportation of large amounts of solid waste to landfills, which has proven to be expensive and dangerous for the environment and communities. This will result in a long-term solution for solid waste management in the town of Islip.
Building the capability of the local government and the local communities as well as integrating key stakeholders will help achieve that aim and ensure Islip Town has a sustainable solid waste management system. The project will contribute to a better understanding and control of environmental pollution. The initiative will involve community mobilization to make the locals aware of the risks of transporting wastes to landfills, as well as the benefits of recycling and using the recovered materials. Local government agencies will also assist in winning the consent of the communities to have the recycling plants set near the waste production points. Implementation of the project will begin in January and run for three years.

The beneficiaries of this initiative are the policymakers and agencies from the concerned ministries, the local government, and the local community. The benefits include reducing the quantity of waste disposed of, minimizing the emission of greenhouse gases, as well as creating green jobs. The management board will also manage this initiative, by the funding agreements that the donors will sign.



Background

There has been a rising rate of waste generation due to population growth and increased economic activities, especially in urban area. Consequently, local governments are facing increased costs of collecting the wastes as well as reducing the associated environmental impacts, which has impacted negatively on the socio-economic development (Greene, & Tonjes, 2014). Solid waste in the United States has become a problem, especially in the urban areas. Waste generation has gone up to 389.5 million, where management systems transfer 69% to landfills, recycles 24%, while they direct the remaining 7% into waste-to-energy combustion units (Van Haaren, Themelis, & Goldstein, 2010). In New York State, the residents, economic activities and the non-resident employees generate 14 million tons of solid and recyclable wastes per year by (Cohen, Martinez, & Schroder, 2015). Similarly, in Islip town, which has a high population of about 335, 543 have also led to an increase in waste generation (Greene, 2013). A public system handles waste from residential areas, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, while a private network that manages commercial wastes. They export most of it through land-based transfer means to landfills and recycle a small proportion of it, which is costly and environmentally harmful due to the associated greenhouse gas emission during transportation. As a result, there is a need to divert more waste from the landfills to recycling locally to recover energy and materials.

This environmental initiative is aiming at addressing the issue of solid waste management in Islip town by diverting more of the waste from landfills to recycling. It is a cross-sectoral initiative whose activities will engage essential players to achieve a sustainable waste recycling program to obtain lasting solutions to environmental pollution, poverty alleviation and sustainable development. The key players in this initiative include the residents of Islip town who are the primary generators of the residential solid waste. They influence how public and private management systems handle waste through waste avoidance and their “Not in My Back Yard” syndrome (NIMBY) which has made it difficult to set up local waste management plants near residential areas (Cohen, Martinez, & Schroder, 2015). As a result, this initiative aims at mobilizing and capacity building of the local to achieve the communities’ commitment to increase waste recycling while reducing the number of wastes that reach the landfills.

Moreover, this initiative will also engage the input of the elected leaders in Islip town. The political climate influences decision making regarding waste management which makes it difficult to implement policies regarding waste management (Cohen, Martinez, & Schroder, 2015). Therefore, their engagement will easily win the consent of the community to assist in choosing a suitable site for the recycling plant, as well as expanding the market for the recovered materials, which is usually limited (Greene, & Tonjes, 2014). This initiative will also coordinate the actions of existing waste management systems such as the Multi-Purpose Recycling Facility (MRF) located in Holbrook, to apply their waste collection methods while avoiding any chances of duplication. Other partners in this project will include government agencies from ministries relevant ministries, environmental experts and business groups.

This waste recycling initiative is unique over the existing programs because of the coordinated partnership with key stakeholders as a sure way of achieving sustainability. It is also cost-effective because it will use some current processes such as waste collection methods used by established public and private waste management systems, as well as cutting n transport costs incurred during exportation of wastes. The management has put up plans to quantify recycled waste for record-keeping purposes, which is unavailable in the current recycling programs making it difficult to keep track of the situation of waste management in America (Van Haaren, Themelis, & Goldstein, 2010). It will also conduct public outreaches to sensitize the community on the benefits of recycling and use of recovered commodities. The unique combination of the skills and experiences of the stakeholders makes the initiative the best approach to the diversion of waste from landfills and hence reduce the greenhouse gas emitted during land-based transportation.

Project goal

The goal of this project is to contribute to the reduction of waste management cost and the risks associated with the land-based transfer of solid waste to landfills in New York. The activities to help achieve that goal include capacity building of the local government and the local communities and integration of key stakeholders to bring about a sustainable solid waste management. The project will contribute to a better understanding and control of environmental pollution in Islip town, as well as promote the use of materials recovered through recycling.

Project beneficiaries

The beneficiaries of this initiative are the policymakers and agencies from the concerned ministries, the local government, and the local community. The expected benefits include the reduction of the quantity of waste disposed of, minimizing the emission of greenhouse gases, as well as reducing the cost of solid waste management. It will also create green jobs to the increasing population in all the villages of Islip town.

Project management

The management board will manage this initiative by the funding agreements that the donors will sign, under the guideline of the Islip Resource Recovery Agency which regulates the waste management facilities in Islip town.

Budget

Item

Amount

Waste management planner

$10000.8

The of water source and management

$20000.0

Equipment

$148000.0

Public education

$4000.6

Total

$182000.0



Social sustainability

The initiative will enhance activities that will make resources available for future generations. All the stakeholders including the local communities will participate in the planning and management of the project to achieve a participatory approach which results in sustainability of the project.







Reference

Cohen, S., Martinez, H., & Schroder, A. (2015). Waste Management Practices in New York City, Hong Kong and Beijing.

Greene, K. L. (2013). Municipal Waste Management Suffolk County Municipal Systems Services and Infrastructure (Doctoral dissertation, Stony Brook University).

Greene, K. L., & Tonjes, D. J. (2014). Quantitative assessments of municipal waste management systems: using different indicators to compare and rank programs in New York State. Waste Management, 34(4), 825-836.

Van Haaren, R., Themelis, N., & Goldstein, N. (2010). The state of garbage in America. BioCycle, 51(10), 16-23.