The City of Kingston’s composting program “rots”!

Photo credit: Julie Noble

By Rebecca Martin

The City of Kingston’s composting program “rots”!

Composting is the process of  breaking down organic waste, like food scraps, to create nutrient-rich compost. This process involves rotting, or the destructive dissolution of organic matter. When we remove food waste from the waste system, with composting,  we are actively diverting food scraps from our regular trash and turning them into nutrient rich soil. It is essentially taking food out of the landfill where it would otherwise decompose and produce harmful methane gas; this helps reduce environmental impact and conserve resources used to produce food. 

According to the EPA, 22% of our waste stream is food scraps, meaning it is the largest single category of waste sent to landfills

Composting’s benefits include saving our community tax dollars. Kingston’s garbage is hauled more than 250 miles away to the Seneca Meadows Landfill. The tipping fees are extremely expensive and are getting more so with each passing year. 

As it pertains to environmental justice, Seneca Meadows Landfill is located in Seneca Falls, a small town of a little more than 9,000 people. They are enduring great harms living next to one of the largest active landfills in New York State that accepts trash from communities like ours.

Established in 1953, Seneca Meadows landfill has a permitted waste capacity of 6,000 tons per day. The landfill will reach capacity by the end of 2025, coinciding with the expiration of its existing permit. They want to profit as much as they can and kick the can down the road to expand their capacity by 47 acres and extend their permit in 2040.  Here’s what Seneca Lake Guardians, made up of community members living in Seneca Falls, think about that. We must understand  how we are contributing to their community harms and stop it.

Recently, Ulster County announced it wanted to find a landfill of its own in the county with much public outrage.  Now imagine how Seneca Falls community members feel about communities like ours sending our unending stream of trash there. 

It’s unjust and unfair.  

It’s why the county must approve its Zero Waste Management plan that it’s been working on for a long time, and why we endorse a landfill in Ulster County.  Why should we place the burden of our waste on a community 250 miles away? The only way that we are going to make changes is to take on the burden  right here at home.

Zero waste is key and composing is an opportunity for Kingston residents. Let’s get the ball rolling to take responsibility for what we are throwing out.  Sign-up to Kingston Organics.  I’ve taken pictures of my weekly haul to show you just how easy it is to get food scraps, meats, bones, etc. out of our waste stream.

Step one:
Make a designated can for all of your food scraps. You can capture meat and bones, too. I’ve lined mine with a bag that I can wash and use again for a couple of months of collection.
Step two:
I collect my food scrapes for a week to deliver on Sunday’s. Kingston has a number of locations that are close to you that you can deliver to.
Step three:
I visit the location in the Rondout to bring my food scraps for composing.
Step four:
There is a simple passcode to access the bins (you’ll get the code once you sign-up)
Step five:
Dump and go! By doing so, you’ve contributed to eliminating unnecessary food scraps from our waste stream, making less emissions and saving tax dollars in tipping fees from delivering our trash to Seneca Meadows, some 250 miles away.

Lights Out Norlite, Our Partners in Cohoes, NY., Need the Support of Solid Waste Management Advocates and Climate Justice Groups now

Last year, KingstonCitizens.org was was one of 140 organizations that signed onto a letter urging the Governor and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to deny the renewal of the permit for the Norlite Hazardous Waste Incinerator in Cohoes, NY to support our important Hudson Valley Solid Waste Management partners Lights Out Norlite. That effort was successful in getting the state to stop the “illegal” burning of AFFF toxic firefighting foam at the plant – though they continue to operate the plant on an expired permit right next door to a public housing authority.

PAUSE (People of Albany United for Safe Energy), the 350.org affiliate in the Capital District, is urging climate justice groups your organization to sign on to a letter to the State Attorney General asking her to support the motion by Lights Out Norlite to intervene in the lawsuit her office, along with DEC, has filed against the Norlite hazardous waste incinerator and aggregrate facility in Cohoes NY.

The letter outlines why the AG should support giving the residents who live by this public nuisance the right to have a strong voice in the litigation to finally clean up – and hopefully shut down – this facility that that has been polluting an environmental justice community for decades. While it is the judge in the case that will make the ultimate decision, it would be good to have the AG supporting it; we expect that NYS DEC as usual will oppose giving citizens a voice, and Norlite will oppose.

Since the judge may rule on the motion to intervene in early February, we need to convince the AG to not oppose the motion as soon as possible. We plan to send the letter by Friday, February 3.

If you are a climate justice group, you can sign the letter here. Visit links to the complaint and memo of support from Lights Out Norlite.

KingstonCitizens.org Request UCRRA to Remove BioHiTech Facility in Local Solid Waste Plan for Ulster County

By Rebecca Martin

On Monday, June 29 at noon, the Ulster County Recovery Resource Authority (UCRRA) will hold their monthly meeting. We have provided the following pubic comment.

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Dear Members of the UCRRA Board,

We wish to commend you for your hard efforts in creating a Local Solid Waste Plan for Ulster County.  From our early conversations with professionals, Ulster County and specifically UCRRA is seen as a leader on managing solid waste. 

However, in regard to the BioMass section of your document (page 111-112), we request that the board consider a resolution to remove the BioHiTech facility in Ulster County from its plan.  

Recently, we have learned about BioHiTech, a “Municipal Solid Waste Processing Facility” with a project that is now online in West Virginia and another currently under scrutiny in the City of Rensselaer. 

The proposed facility in the City of Rensselaer initially referred to itself as a “composting facility” in its Environmental Assessment Form for SEQR. Far from it.  As we understand it, this “emerging technology” produces Refuse-derived Fuel (RDF) by first collecting municipal waste. After removing any valuable metals, the plastic and fibers are dried and shredded into confetti.  They are then trucked away to cement plants where it is incinerated to supplement coal in creating energy. The remaining waste is dumped in unnamed landfills or garbage incinerators.

With a population of 9300 residents, the City of Rensselaer community is already shouldering four polluting facilities (a nearby massive asphalt receiving facility, the Rensselaer Cogeneration gas-fired power plant, a major Amtrak hub and the Dunn Construction and Demolition debris landfill (situated next to a pre-K to 12 public school) and across the river, Global oil terminal). “The proposed BioHiTech facility project, situated near a DEC potential environmental justice area, would be built on top of a capped toxic waste site, the former BASF property, where existing contamination affects the soil, groundwater, and nearby Hudson River.  It would accept constant shipments of municipal garbage. Trucks would make about 82 trips in and out of the facility every day, according to the applicant.” This would be tragic for Rensselaer.

So it is of great concern to us that in UCRRA’s most recent plan, it calls to contract a consulting firm to evaluate the possibility of permitting and constructing a local landfill or a BioHiTech Facility within Ulster County.

In section 7.11 Technology Selection, it says, “..three technologies have been selected to pursue in the 10-year planning period. Feasibility studies for siting a local landfill, installing a BioHiTech (biomass) Facility, and waste exportation by railroad will be conducted”

To be clear, we understand that to date, UCRRA has not included incineration as a solution to municipal solid waste within Ulster County. That’s wise given the history of environmental advocacy here, as the outcry would be fierce. Let it be known that we also do not support Ulster County engaging in incineration anywhere. 

On page 74, section 5.2.9 Local Environmental Justice it says,. “Environmental justice means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no group of people, including a racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies. Environmental justice, under the NYSDEC Policy 29 aims to enhance public participation and the review of environmental impacts from proposed construction of facilities in environmental justice communities, and to reduce disproportionate environmental impacts in overburdened communities.” 

If UCRRA is indeed concerned about Environmental Justice communities in Ulster County, then it should also be concerned in its role to potentially exploit communities outside of Ulster County, those who would bear the brunt of our shipment of shredded plastics and fiber for incineration. We encourage you to think hard about how you would feel if you and your family were living near an incinerator burning waste in general, and then the waste of those from another state. 

For all of these reasons, we request that the UCRRA board consider passing a resolution to remove BioHiTech from its current Local Solid Waste Management plan as a potential future option in Ulster County.

In addition, we sought advice from Neil Seldman and made a small donation to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance to review UCRRA’s 2011 and 2020 Local Solid Waste Plans and provide a memorandum to outline the pros and cons for Ulster County. All incineration plans are stated as “a very bad idea.”  He goes on to say that he “will not comment on this very outdated 20th century technology.” Most, if not all of us, are aware of Seldman’s work and hold him in high esteem. We are submitting the memorandum as an attachment to our public comment. 

RESOURCES

READ: Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency Local Solid Waste Management Plan

READ: Institute for Self Reliance Memorandum on Ulster County Local Solid Waste Plan

READ: Riverkeeper Opposes Waste Facility on the Hudson River in Rensselaer