Trash This Abysmal Garbage-Reform Bill
ON Wednesday, the City Council will consider a bill that creates waste zones in New York, in an effort to reform the commercial-waste industry. Many in the business and labor community oppose the bill — and without a doubt it will kill jobs. I agree with activists and my council colleagues that the industry needs reforming. Under the current system, 50 firms haul 3 million tons of Big Apple trash based on individual agreements with some 100,000 individual businesses and buildings. Some routes and stops are inefficient, and bad driving on the part of a few firms has resulted in headline-grabbing accidents.
The proposed bill would require waste haulers to apply through a request-for-proposal process to service a zone. Up to three carters would be permitted per zone, and a carter can win up to 15 of 20 planned zones. There is no market-share guarantee, and an alpha company would likely dominate a zone and the total market.
The industry already underwent reform in the 1990s to eliminate corruption and create a competitive market. This new bill would create monopolies, reducing accountability and increasing prices in turn.
It would also likely lead to the loss of low-barrier-to-entry jobs, especially for individuals who have been involved with the criminaljustice system and/or lack a highschool degree. Limiting competition would also likely increase costs for small business and add more burdens on commerce.
Yes, some haulers crisscross the city in a desperate effort to get busi
‘ Waste zones would create monopolies, ’ reducing accountability and hiking prices.
ness. And sure, there are bad actors in the market that lowball prices and don’t abide by safety norms and regulations. But there are better ways to deal with scofflaw firms.
If we want to get bad actors off of the road, let’s push the Business Integrity Commission to implement minimum pricing, which it already has the authority to do.
I have also proposed a bill, Intro 996, which would give the commission the teeth and tools to effectively reform the industry. The emphasis is on strengthening the existing framework in a way that brings together the city, labor and business. Another idea is to set a price floor that ensures union jobs and laborers are protected against unfair and unscrupulous competition and our streets against reckless haulers.
Plus, the industry has already been making progress on increasing safety training and practices and reducing its environmental impact. Hauling companies have been working to install onboard cameras, GPS systems and side guards to maximize safety. And a law coming into effect in January will require clean-emission engines. Non-compliant trucks and companies will be knocked out of the market.
No company wants to be unsafe in the development of affordable and supportive housing projects.
But then, how does stripping union jobs, as the reform bill would do, make housing more accessible and secure?
The City Council is helping hollow out the city’s middle class with overbroad and harmful policies that hamper business owners and labor. How can we ask and encourage our communities to be self-reliant, then regulate jobs and opportunity out of existence?
A fair, free and functioning market is essential for New Yorkers and millions more in the regional and global economy who depend on a healthy market in our city.
I can’t support the creation of commercial waste zones, an answer in search of a problem. The solution to the problem before us today can and ought to be addressed through more targeted and less harmful public policies. The people of New York are counting on the council to expand opportunity. Workers aren’t disposable, and businesses aren’t piggy banks.
Being progressive shouldn’t mean being anti-business.