Page 2 NYC currently recycles approximately 1.4

Page 2

NYC currently recycles approximately 1.45 million tons of MSW and combusts with energy recovery another 0.55 million tons. The bulk of the MSW - approximately 5.45 million tons - is transported via trucks, train, and barge to out-of-state landfills in Virginia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Although landfilling is comparatively cheaper than other waste management practices, it has become increasingly more expensive because local landfill space is sparse and NYC waste has to consequently travel farther distances to be landfilled. The NYC Office of Management and Budget projects that, in the next few years, the cost of landfilling for NYC for residential and institutional waste will increase by nearly 50% (from $305 million in 2013 to $450 million in 2016). Landfilling is not a sustainable long-term waste management solution because it has negative environmental impacts and the land available for landfill use is limited. Specifically, landfilling is estimated to generate 26 million tons of CO2 emissions per year and to destroy 140 acres of green field space per year

http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofo...h%2016.pdf