Press Contact: Sophie Cardona: (212) 361-2400, ext. 244 , or email cardona@informinc.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, DECEMBER 13, 2002

INFORM AWARDS $630,000 IN CONTRACTS FOR WASTE PREVENTION ACTIVITIES TO EIGHT COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS IN NEW YORK CITY

"Waste-Free NYC" Projects Planned In All Five Boroughs With Holiday Trees The First Target

New York, NY -– INFORM, Inc., a national environmental research organization based in New York City, today announced that it is awarding contracts totaling $630,000 to eight community-based organizations in New York City. The organizations will staff and implement community-based waste prevention education and outreach projects as part of the Waste Prevention Community Coordinators Program. Six of the organizations will receive $90,000 contracts each, and two of the organizations have formed a single collaborative that will receive a seventh contract of $90,000. The program is designed to educate the public about waste prevention and establish residential waste prevention and reuse projects in New York City neighborhoods.

Funding for the contracts was provided to INFORM by the City Council through the Department of Sanitation of New York City (DSNY) in an effort to reduce the amount of residential waste generated in and exported out of the city. Each of the selected organizations will employ one or more waste prevention coordinators to manage its funded activities.

The activities are being funded for one year and will serve as pilot projects that could be replicated in other neighborhoods if proven effective in reducing the residential waste stream. The eight organizations were selected from those responding to a Request for Proposals issued by INFORM in July. Each project has its own focus but will also adopt key targets shared by all the projects.

To kick off the program, all seven waste prevention projects will be collecting and recycling holiday trees, which will not be recycled by the city this year because of budget cuts.

Used computers, televisions, and other electronics - which contain highly toxic materials - will be another target of the waste prevention projects after the holidays. Organizations such as Per Scholas, which refurbishes and recycles computers and televisions, and Charitable Recycling, which collects cell phones, will assist all seven projects in this effort.

The following organizations will be conducting waste prevention projects:

• Astoria Residents Restoring Our World (Queens) will open New York City's first residential construction and demolition emporium. The shop will provide free drop-off for usable construction "debris" such as toilets, doors, windows, wood, and sheetrock, all of which will be sold at reduced prices to contractors, do-it-yourselfers, and others - thereby promoting a model that has proven successful in other states. ARROW will also collect reusable items such as furnishings, books, clothing, and textiles.



• The Staten Island Botanical Garden will launch an educational outreach program promoting "leave it on the lawn" lawn-care practices in Staten Island communities. These practices include mowing lawns less closely, so that the tips of the cut grass fall between the slightly longer blades of live grass, instead of lying on top in clumps. Leave-it-on-the-lawn practices not only eliminate the need for raking and disposing of cut grass, they also return nitrogen and water to the soil, reducing the need for fertilizer and extra water.



• The Brooklyn Botanic Garden will launch leave-it-on-the-lawn programs in certain Brooklyn communities with large numbers of single-family homes, and will also collect spring and fall yard waste (tree branches, dead wood, etc.) for chipping.



• St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation (Brooklyn) will launch composting programs at three community gardens in Greenpoint/Williamsburg and will target clear glass for reuse as architectural tiles and aquarium gravel. Clear glass is a marketable product if it is clean, and this program will separate the clear glass from colored glass, clean it, and reuse it. St. Nick's will also collect reusable items such as furnishings, books, clothing, and textiles.



• 6/15 Green Community Garden (Brooklyn), will create composting programs in ten community gardens. As an incentive to participate, it will offer residents who donate food scraps for composting a supply of nutrient-rich soil for their houseplants. It will also develop a "Waste Prevention and Reuse Directory" for Brooklyn. In addition, the organization will target reusable items such as furnishings, books, clothing, and textiles in an innovative way - working with block associations to incorporate take-backs, swap shops, household hazardous waste collections, and other waste prevention activities into annual events such as block parties, thereby enabling existing networks and organizations to support waste prevention on an ongoing basis.



• Lower East Side Ecology Center (Manhattan) will target food waste in high-rise apartment buildings on the Lower East Side. The center owns and operates New York City's only "in-vessel" composting site. In-vessel composting takes place entirely within an enclosed container, helping to accelerate the composting process, eliminate pathogens, and prevent odor. The technique is a primary candidate for reclaiming urban food waste, which represents 15 percent of New York City's residential waste stream. In addition, the center will collect reusable items such as furnishings, books, clothing, and textiles.



• Sustainable South Bronx and Per Scholas (Bronx) will join together to collect computers and televisions in apartment buildings citywide. This portion of the waste stream is a high priority because these items contain toxic chemicals that are long-lived. Per Scholas is equipped to refurbish computers (about 15 percent of those collected), resell them at very low cost to schools and after-school programs, and recycle those that are too old or damaged for refurbishment.

"Every effort should be made to reduce unnecessary waste and the environmental and fiscal costs associated with disposing of it," said Eve Martinez, INFORM's Director of New York City Waste Prevention Programs. "These seven projects are a first step toward accomplishing that in New York City and should pave the way for expanded activities in the future."

INFORM, Inc., is a national environmental research organization, based in New York City, that identifies practical ways of living and doing business that ensure environmentally sustainable economic growth. For over a decade, INFORM has been a leader in the search for practical ways to reduce municipal and commercial waste streams, publishing more than a dozen reports and manuals for businesses, government agencies, schools, and communities on strategies for preventing wastes at their source.