Study: Town of North Hempstead Recycling Down in Last 10 Years

Recycling in the has gone down 24 percent since 1998, according to a new study by Stony Brook University, meaning more garbage is ending up in incinerators than in Long Island recycling stations.

According to the study, North Hempstead produced 171,733 tons of waste in 2009 with 135,769 tons being incinerated and 35,964 tons being recycled.

It was noted in the Stony Brook study that, "The Town of North Hempstead‟s [incinerated] figure includes residential and commercial municipal solid waste. If only residential waste was included, the Town‟s recycling rate would be increased to 29 percent." The Town's recycling percent of both residential and commercial is 21 percent.

Recycling rates slid throughout Long Island as well, falling to 24 percent of total waste in 2009 compared to 29 percent in 1998. 

Though the drop in recycling may set off alarms, the study's authors said many factors were at play, including a move toward lighter packaging materials in the past decade and better tracking for recycling programs.

“Our study showed a decrease in all curbside recycling programs, which is at least partially the result of more precise accounting of recycling, and changes in materials—for example, the substitution of plastic for heavier materials and lighter packaging in general,” said study co-author R. Lawrence Swanson of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook, in a statement.

According to the study, North Hempstead, which covers 53.6 square miles, has a transfer station operated by Omni Recycling of Westbury in Roslyn as well as a recyclying drop-off spot in Roslyn.

The bulk of the town's recycling is yard waste such as branches and leaves, making up 16,576 tons in 2009. Paper recycling amounted to 7,850 tons, while curbside pickup of glass, metal and plastic containers was 4,874 tons.

The Town started a composting program last year. To date the Town has distributed 600 composting tumblers through this program and more tumblers are in the process of being ordered, according to Collin Nash, Town of North Hempstead spokesman. To participate in the program, people need to attend a composting class at Clarks Botanic Garden in Albertson, he added.

The Town has been selling low-cost, paper recycling containers to residents as well as bio-degradable leaf bags, Nash noted. There is also a school recycling program that started three years ago. This program involves 30,000 students in nine of the Town's school districts, Nash explained. Since the recyclying program's inception, students have recycled 25 tons of paper and 10 tons of co-mingled materials per month on average, he said.

There is also a Caps Back program that began in the fall of last year in partnership with Estee Lauder, Nash noted.