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4 THE COURIER SUN • APRIL 2, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com DSNY to expand curbside food and yard waste recycling collection BY ANTHONY GIUDICE a.giudice@timesnewsweekly.com @A_GiudiceReport Get ready to see more brown compost bins in Queens starting the week of May 18, as more areas of Maspeth and Middle Village are added to the city’s organics waste pilot program. The NYC Department of Sanitation’s (DSNY) voluntary curbside food and yard waste recycling program is expanding into both neighborhoods and communities in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island later this spring. The program, which began in May 2013, currently serves more than 100,000 households and 700 schools throughout all fi ve boroughs and has collected more than 6,500 tons of material. This latest expansion will add approximately 35,000 more houses to the program. “Organic materials make up about a third of our trash,” DSNY Commissioner Kathryn Garcia said. “When you recycle your food and yard waste, you decrease the amount of garbage going to landfi lls and help create a greener and healthier New York City.” All single-family homes and buildings with nine or fewer units will automatically be enrolled in the voluntary program. Residential buildings with 10 or more units may apply to participate. All eligible households will receive a starter kit, which includes an indoor kitchen container, an outdoor brown bin or a larger bin to share for a building with three to nine units and an instructional brochure. To participate, residents should place their food scraps and soiled paper products, such as paper napkins and paper plates, into the kitchen container, then transfer the material into their outdoor bin for collection on their pickup day. Examples of items that may be placed in the bin include food scraps such as fruits, vegetables, egg shells, pasta, tea bags, coffee grounds and fi lters, baked goods, meat and bones; fl owers and house plants; and foodsoiled paper such as paper towels, napkins and paper plates. Some items that may not be placed into the bins include plastics of any kind, even if labeled biodegradable, liquids, foam items, animal waste, cigarettes and ashes, and medical waste. The collected organic material is managed both locally and regionally, with some of the waste being turned into compost and being used locally by greening groups such as urban farmers, community gardeners and street tree stewards to rebuild the city’s soil. NYC WATER RATES SET TO GO UP AGAIN THIS JULY BY ROBERT POZARYCKI rpozarycki@queenscourier.com/@robbpoz In what’s become an annual rite of spring in New York City, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recommended a water rate increase on March 27. Calling it the lowest suggested increase in a decade, the DEP formally requested that the New York City Water Board raise rates by 3.24 percent, even lower than the 4.9 percent increase projected last year. For owners of single-family homes, their yearly water bills will climb about $33 per year, from $1,025 to $1,058, based on the average consumption of 80,000 gallons per year. Multi-family homeowners will pay, on average, about $23 more per unit annually, from $666 to $689 based on an average annual water consumption of 52,000 gallons. The DEP will also ask the Water Board to continue freezing the minimum charge for homeowners who use approximately 100 gallons or less per day; these customers are charged $1.27 per day, or $463.55 per year. “By implementing effective costs controls, refi - nancing higher interest debt and reducing the rental payment, we are able to deliver the lowest water rate increase in a decade, and the 25 percent of single family homeowners who use the least water will not receive any increase at all,” DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd said. “In addition, we have put together a package of initiatives to provide relief to nearly 50,000 additional lowincome, senior and disabled customers.” The package Lloyd mentioned includes the proposed expansion of the Home Water Assistance Program, which provides annual credits to low-income families who qualify for the federal Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP); credits for those who enroll in the DEP’s monthly e-billing program; and $100 credits for those who participate in the lead and cooper monitoring program. Though the DEP touted the reduced increase, one elected offi cial — Councilman Donovan Richards, who chairs the City Council’s Environmental Protection Committee — said the city needed to ease homeowners’ burdens even further. “The fi nancial burden of offsetting the costs of maintaining the city’s vast sewer and water system cannot be placed on single-family homeowners, many of whom are seniors,” Richards said. “Considering the hardships that many lower-income families are facing, it is important to retain reduction measures — including a minimum $1.27 daily fl at rate and expanding the Home Water Payment Assistant Program to absorb these increased costs.” Queens residents will get their chance to speak for or against the water rate increase on Thursday, April 30, at the Water Board’s public hearing in Long Island City. The hearing will take place at 7 p.m. at LaGuardia Community College, 45-50 Van Dam St., Conference Room E-242. Visit http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwaterboard/html/ home/home.shtml for more details. The Water Board is expected to formally adopt water rates for the city’s 2016 fi scal year on May 8; the new rates will take effect on July 1.


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