How Much Does New York Actually Recycle? The N.Y. Comptroller Says the State Doesn’t Really Know.

Many people are familiar with the three R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle. Now, the Office of the New York State Comptroller is asking an environmental conservation agency to get better at a fourth R: recordkeeping. That’s because the state agency has not been adequately recording recycling data, according to a newly released audit by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. 

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is responsible for monitoring recycling facilities throughout the state, including Recyclables Handling and Recovery Facilities (RHRFs). According to the comptroller’s report, between January 2021 and December 2023, the DEC did not receive 32 percent of required annual reports from RHRF facilities, and the recycling figures that were reported were “frequently inaccurate or not adequately supported.”

The comptroller’s office also noted that many facilities “failed to report how much material they discarded rather than recycled,” meaning the DEC may not know how much waste was actually diverted from landfills. Auditors also found that 35 percent of the facilities were not inspected during the time period, so the DEC may not be able to verify the figures reported by those facilities. 

The unreliable data make it difficult for the state to “track progress toward its environmental and emissions reduction goals,” according to the state comptroller. Although New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul recently rolled back the state’s ambitious climate goals as part of a budget compromise, the state is still committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent (from 1990 levels) by 2050, according to City & State. 

“It’s hard to know if we’re going to meet our climate goals since recycling is a big impact of preventing climate change and we know that solid waste accounts for 12% of state greenhouse gas emissions,” Mary Mueller, a spokesperson for the comptroller’s office, told Spectrum News 1. 

The DEC responded to the comptroller’s findings in a letter included at the end of the report. The agency claimed the comptroller “inflated its claims of reporting deficiencies,” reported Gothamist, but agreed to improve its tracking and reporting methods. 

This is not the first time this year the comptroller’s office has highlighted auditing problems within the state. In March, it released a report scrutinizing New York City’s $368 million budget for the city’s street homeless population. The report warned that the city was not adequately tracking program spending or effectiveness. 

Taxpayers deserve to know where and how their money is being spent. New York residents spend about $788 million per year on recycling services, according to one estimate by the Center for Sustainable Materials Management at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Recycling is managed by a combination of state and local governments and private services. But if New York state believes in the importance of recycling, it should, at a minimum, show residents that their efforts are worthwhile.