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REFORMING FOR A BETTER DEAL: How To Align Cost Savings, Sustainability and Stability in NYC’S Commercial Waste System

This report details six evidence-based recommendations for how we can ensure that pro- recycling policies are also pro-business. The Transform Don’t Trash NYC Coalition believes that as the city expands and enforces its recycling regime, it must also create efficiency, price transparency, and substantial cost savings for high-diversion businesses – none of which can be achieved by the current, disorganized commercial waste system.…

An animated still of a sad-looking milk carton in a pile of trash.

Where does NYC’s commercial trash go?

The Center for Urban Pedagogy collaborated with ALIGN, Transform Don’t Trash NYC, and animator Cole Hannan to shed light on the dirty secrets behind NYC’s commercial waste. This short animation follows a discarded milk jug on its journey from trashcan to landfill, exposing the impacts the current commercial waste system has on workers, community members, and the environment.


Not At Your Service: A Look at How New York City’s Commercial Waste System is Failing Its Small Businesses

New York City is renowned as a metropolis where diverse small businesses thrive in the shadow of icons like the Empire State Building. The city’s nearly 200,000 small businesses are essential to the city’s economy and account for much of its economic growth in recent years. Nonetheless, these diverse and innovative businesses are still obligated to use an inefficient and antiquated system for managing the waste and recyclable materials that they generate through their day-to-day operations.