Recycling, Composting and Waste Reduction
Let’s face it: Garbage is bad for the environment, which means it’s bad for us. When we throw stuff out, it ends up in landfills and in our waterways—in our oceans, rivers and lakes. It creates all kinds of problems.
In landfills, rotting garbage creates greenhouse gases that trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere and cause global warming. In the United States, landfills create as many greenhouse gases as 21 million cars. Decomposing garbage also produces other dangerous gases that lead to smog. Smog, in turn, can cause asthma, lung diseases including cancer, and heart disease.
When waste rots in landfills, it also sends out liquids that can pollute our waterways and our drinking water. And garbage that isn’t collected can drift into our oceans, rivers and lakes, where it kills creatures like fish, sea birds and seals.
Recycling, composting (turning food waste and organic materials like grass trimmings into rich, healthy soil) and other kind of waste reduction prevent these problems. Not only that, they create a lot of jobs—10 times more jobs per ton than putting waste in landfills or burning it in incinerators.
There are lots of ways to reduce waste. Recycling is the one most of us know best. It’s turning old stuff, like newspapers we’ve already read, or soda cans we’re finished with, into new stuff, like new paper and new aluminum cans.
In fact, there are lots of other ways to reduce waste. Composting is becoming increasingly popular with New Yorkers. Our restaurants, cafeterias and sports arenas are getting into it, too. Interested in starting your own community composting project? Check out this website from the New York City Department of Sanitation. The Sanitation Department offers compost workshops and classes and can help you get a community compost project up and running.
New York City’s government, businesses and community organizations are finding other ways to reduce waste, too. Groups like City Harvest collect healthy food that would otherwise be thrown out by restaurants, supermarkets, wholesale markets and other places and brings it to neighborhoods where food supplies are limited and organizations that help people in need. RefashionNYC and Wearable Collections collect the clothes, shoes, and other textiles that make up almost 6 percent of the city’s waste. Groups like Goodwill, Housing Works and the Salvation Army collect all those things, along with books, furniture, housewares and more. There are small businesses and not-for-profit organizations that collect old computers and other unwanted electronics, too. (Not-for-profits have been set up to carry out a mission, instead of simply to make money.) Build It Green! NYC and Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores collect and sell salvaged building materials, such as lumber, kitchen cabinets and flooring.
Just like in all fields of work, in recycling, composting and waste reduction, there are jobs for people at the entry level all the way up to jobs for managers, entrepreneurs, scientists and executives. Jobs in this field include sanitation worker, truck driver, material sorter, compost program manager, recycling outreach worker, engineer and sales representative.
For more information about the kinds of jobs available in recycling and waste reduction, and the training and education you might need to work in the field, check out the Recycling and Waste Reduction page of the Green Careers center at CareerOneStop.org. The federal government put CareerOneStop.org together to help people find work. CareerOneStop.org can also help you learn about salaries and benefits, along with other helpful information.
Jobs with New York City and other local governments
New York City’s Sanitation Department is one of the biggest employers in the recycling, composting and waste reduction field. The department as a whole employs more than 9,000 people. X[LG1] percent of them work in recycling, composting and other kinds of waste reduction.
To work for the Sanitation Department collecting recycling, compost and other materials, you must first get a job as an entry-level sanitation worker. There is no separate hiring for people interested in recycling. Sanitation workers, like police officers and firefighters, are assigned jobs by their supervisors. Jobs in recycling and waste reduction that usually require at least a college degree can be found in other city departments, including the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Department of Education, the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, and the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation. These jobs can be found at NYC Careers webpage. Many of these jobs, including entry-level sanitation jobs, require that people interested in applying take a written test as part of the application process.
Private and Not-For-Profit Recycling, Composting and Waste Reduction Programs
A lot of New York City’s recycling, composting and waste reduction programs are run by private companies and by not-for-profit organizations. Many companies that work in private garbage hauling also provide recycling and composting services.
Below is a list of private haulers, recycling businesses and not-for-profit groups that work in this field. Sometimes, private companies also provide recycling services for towns in Nassau County, on Long Island, and Westchester County, north of New York City.
Private Recycling, Composting and Waste Reduction Companies:
Allegro Sanitation Corporation
Electronic Recyclers International, Inc.
Not-For-Profit Organizations:
Idealist.org lists all types of jobs at not-for-profit organizations. One of its best features is a search tool that helps you find jobs in the fields you are interested in.)
Lower East Side Ecology Center
Possible jobs here in Westchester & Nassau County[LG2]
National Recycling, Composting and Waste Reduction Job Boards
[LG1]I’m waiting to hear from the Sanitation Dept about this.
[LG2]Were you able to get anyone to do this?