Abstract

NYC Commercial Solid Waste: Modeling the private collection system
Track: Public Works
Authors: Danielle Hartman, Bridget Anderson

Businesses in NYC generate more than 3 million tons of waste annually, which is collected and exported by hundreds of private carting companies. The NYC Department of Sanitation is conducting a $5 million commercial waste system analysis, to provide a detailed baseline to support local sustainability initiatives. Halcrow has completed Phase 1 of this study, focused on putrescible waste and recyclables at each step of the system: business, curbside, carter, transfer station, and final destination. Tasks included integrating existing data, conducting fieldwork and interviews, and constructing a data model within an ESRI geodatabase framework. ArcGIS was used to map each step, including more than 300,000 business locations and hundreds of destinations. A spatial statistical model estimated waste generation factors based on geography and business characteristics. This paper will provide an overview of the study and its findings, data integration challenges, and the importance of geographic analysis in developing the model.