Recent study conducted by the Waste Reduction and Management Institute in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook (SoMAS) and the Department of Technology and Society at Stony Brook University, has found a notable decrease of around 20% in recycling on Long Island.
The research titled, ‘Recycling on Long Island 2009,’ provides a detailed report on the municipal recycling programs of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The research found that during the period from 1998 to 2009 the recycling on Long Island has decreased from 29% to 24% while Nassau achieved only 20% and a rate of 27% was achieved by Suffolk.
For performing the study, Krista L. Greene, Department of Technology and Society’s graduate student and her co-authors David Tonjes, Department of Technology and Society’s assistant professor in Stony Brook listed a variety of recycling program designs that are functioning well over Long Island. They gave more importance to collection and management of wastes from residential areas, which includes the methods followed for recycling, collection of e-wastes, and collection of unsafe wastes from households, composting of yard wastes, instructions to public and reaching the public. In 2009, the base year of its study the researchers found that around 59% of the municipal waste was burnt, 17% was sent out and only a 24% was recycled. The documented recycling rates maintained by the municipalities varied from 10% in Riverbed to 85% in Southampton.
The study found that in Municipalities such as Southold, Southampton and Shelter Island with higher level of recycling percentage deployed a volume- based pricing program pay-as-you-throw where the solid wastes are disposed in exclusive pre-purchased bags has increased the quantity of recyclable materials. Also the availability of other programs such as robust composting program, drop-off waste management programs also lent to the increased percentage of recycling. The research also found that places such as Nassau County and all the places in western Suffolk County with well-organized curbside collection facilities also accounted for the same amount of recovery rates.
According to R. Lawrence Swanson, Director of Waste Reduction and Management Institute at SoMAS one of the authors of the report, the research showed reduction in all the types of curbside recycling programs due to reasons such as changes in material usage and exact account of recycling process. He suggested for better coordination in providing education on recycling to improve the recycling percentage.