Report: Troy’s waste plan nonexistent

Properly staffing “the Alamo,” pay-as-you-throw plan advised

Troy’s system of handling the garbage of 50,000 residents appears to be a long-simmering mess, with no state-required garbage strategy plan for decades, no inkling of how much large schools and hospitals throw away, and lax rules on a longtime disposal site with little city oversight.

Those were some of the findings in a Solid Waste Management Plan issued this month that also recommends charging city residents based on what they throw away — also called a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) system.

And the report also revealed that a city facility in South Troy — commonly called the Alamo — that for years accepted bulk waste, like appliances, furniture, tires, electronics, and scrap metal, was shut down to the public in 2017 after state environmental inspectors objected that it had no city attendant to watch over it or clear rules as to what it would take or how it would be stored.

“Some of these problems are older than me,” said city Council member David Bissember, chairman of the General Services Committee, which will review the report at a meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday in city offices

at Hedley Park Place on River Street.

“There is a lot here ... we are glad to have a report that identifies all the challenges and possible solutions,” said Bissember. “There are some good recommendations here.”

Deputy Monica Kurzejeski said some of the issues stem from years of the city downsizing its work force. “I don’t think this was anything nefarious,” she said. “I think it was just an oversight.”

She said the city was “going to do all the steps that we can do to get compliant and get in the good graces of the state (Department of Environmental Conservation).”

The plan was written by a Solid Waste Advisory Board appointed by Mayor Patrick Madden in May, and headed by city Recycling Coordinator Tyler Quinn Holloway.

Currently, the city’s sanitation unit has a $3 million annual budget within the Department of General Services, which is insufficient to cover the cost of waste disposal, according to the report.

To support these services, as well as to encourage more reuse and recycling, the city should start charging residents under a pay-as-you-throw system by 2020 “to create fair and equal costs for property owners related to solid waste services,” the report added.

Such systems can work either by charging residents based on the a specific type of acceptable trash bag, or by a system of differing cart sizes that hold waste.

Inexplicably, Troy has not had a solid waste plan since it closed its controversial landfill in South Troy in 1992 under pressure from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the state attorney general.

Kurzejeski said that the DEC had never notified the city that it was required to come up with a solid waste plan, calling it “an oversight on everyone’s part.”

The draft report would

“bring the city into compliance with (state) laws pertaining to municipal solid waste planning,” according to the report. The DEC press office could not immediately indicate whether the city was ever out of compliance with such laws and whether the state had told the city to create an overall plan.

The report indicates the city wants to eventually reopen its South Troy facility for bulk waste near the Rensselaer County jail, which was closed after some two decades in 2017 after DEC inspected it.

Due to “financial and staffing limitations,” the report found, the Alamo was not “adequately managed for more than three years, resulting in a buildup of irregular materials. This culminated in 2017, when due to an unfortunate series of events, DEC inspected the Alamo.”

That inspection “resulted in a notice that the site” — which was unattended by city workers — was not “appropriately permitted or set up for the general public,” according to the report. While it was closed to the public, the city can still use the facility.

Bulk pickup is currently free to city residents of owner-occupied housing, but the city should start charging for such items, based on the type of items being disposed of, the report added.

For DEC to give permission for the Alamo to reopen, the city must staff the facility, as well as create rules on what kind of waste can be accepted and how it can be stored.

The DEC press office could not immediately address what notice, if any, Troy received that led to the public closure of the Alamo.

Other issues highlighted in the report include:

■ Failure by the city to enforce its long-established permit system for waste hauling companies. “There is no indication that the city has ever enforced these laws,” according to the report. “The City Code has two separate sections pertaining to hauler permits. These two sections are contradictory and neither have been created, implemented, or enforced.”

■ The city has no enforcement officer for its trash disposal rules to prevent or discourage illegal dumping. The position of “Litter Control Officer” has been vacant for more than a decade, and should be filled, according to the report. Kurzejeski said such work was being done by another city worker, who had boosted citations and fines collected, but added the formal position would be restored.

■ The city does not know how much trash large institutions like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hudson Valley Community College, Sage Colleges and St. Mary’s Hospital have been disposing and has never sought such information. The three schools have more 20,000 students and the city has its highest waste volumes in May and June, as students are moving out.

■ The city should require that home addresses be visible wherever solid waste is collected, the report added, to ensure that waste can be identified with the property when a violation is issued.

■ The city should develop a composting system for yard waste and a recycling drop-off center, as well as a new permit system to allow for building “deconstruction” so that salvageable parts can be reused. Currently, the city has a permit system just for demolitions.