Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility - Evaluation of Sustainable Infrastructure

Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility: Assessment of Sustainability

Abstract

Background. This research paper evaluates the sustainable construction and operations plans of New York City’ Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility; a recyclable waste sorting facility planned to open in Brooklyn around the close of 2013. The facility is part of outgoing Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC, a sustainable development plan created in order to usher in an expected one million more residents to New York City. Specifically reviewed are the impacts on the environment, society, and the economy that the project hopes to achieve.

Methodology. In order to conduct this informal study, the report looks to assess one of the most prominent sustainable features highlighted in PlaNYC’s dissemination literature; the planned reduction in sanitation refuse truck vehicle miles traveled (“VMT”) due to the plant’s waterfront location. The use of barges to supplant truck hauling of waste is evaluated by quantifying (1) the total emissions caused over the life cycle of the trucks that are being taken off the road, and (2) the operational emissions that are curtailed due to fewer trucks on the road. Emissions are calculated by analyzing the types of vehicles used, assigning an average gas mileage to these vehicles, and computing the emissions based on the amount of fuel required for the estimated reduction in VMT. This is compared to the emissions that will be produced by the barges employed by the new facility. A follow on claim is that the Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility, through its use of barge transport, will cause a decrease in on-road congestion, a condition associated with a loss of economic activity and worsened livability. This claim is evaluated by an approximation of how many vehicles will be taken off the road based on the Sunset Park facility’s plans.

Conclusions. The use of barge and elimination of a considerable amount of on-road VMT is concluded to be a more sustainable method of waste transfer, albeit at a hefty price. The amount of emissions reduced, while significant, only amounts to only a small fraction of the city’s total on-road emissions. The congestion reduced because of trucks being pulled off the road is even less significant, leading to the conclusion that the plan will have insignificant influence on economic activity due to the reduction in refuse trucks. A different measure, the proposal to overhaul refuse truck fleets for modern trucks with higher emissions controls is evaluated. Based on these findings, this proposal poses more of a substantial improvement in emissions for the city’s waste management operations at a reasonable cost. 

I. Introduction & Qualitative Evaluation

This study aims to look more closely at an infrastructure project that will affect the lives of every resident of New York City in the coming months. While relatively few may know it, the city is very close to taking a large step towards improving the sustainability of the lifecycle of the products that the residents use. The Sims Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility (“Sunset Park MRF”) is set to open soon and it is slated to process all of the recyclable waste produced within New York City. The facility has incorporated several sustainable features including onsite energy generation, ecosystem destruction offsets and stormwater retention. It is also promising to eliminate the more than 260,000 in-city vehicle miles traveled by recycling trucks transferring the waste between transfer stations and recycling facilities. This is planned to be accomplished by implementing a system of waste transfer via barge. From a social perspective, the project plans to incorporate space for educational purpose and to create over 100 new permanent jobs. These benefits sound promising on the glossy pages of an initiative that may serve as Mayor Bloomberg’s legacy, but it is yet to be determined if this will truly alter the life-cycle of products’ use in NYC or achieve PlaNYC’s ambitious 75% diversion rate goal.

If this is the case, the implications are grand; perhaps the city can collectively produce an infrastructure that curtails our inorganic waste efficiently. The purpose of this paper to review one of the plans of the Sunset Park MRF and, using a variety of scholarly texts for reference, approximate more objectively the true impact on the sustainability of the city’s waste management. One of the most touted benefits of the Sunset Park MRF infrastructure project is the implementation of barges for in-city transportation of waste, decreasing the reliance on refuse trucks and reducing on-road vehicle-miles traveled. The associated benefits of these changes include fewer emissions and less congestion, effects that can serve to alleviate the burden on the environment and increase the city’s livability. The aim of this report is to quantify these features in an effort to more directly measure the expected effects of PlaNYC’s waste management efforts.

a. Background – Materials Recovery

i. NYC Previous programming

New York City has long struggled in determining an adequate recycling plan. Indeed, the New York Times reports that “environmental activists call recycling the weak link in the city’s green agenda” and that more than two dozen other US cities have better recycling programs. Having changed its policies several times in the last decade, the city’s former policies present several studies to be considered. The recyclable waste amounts and portions of the total have changed over time. Following September 11, 2001, the Mayor suspended curbside collection of glass containers, and plastic bottles and jugs from July 2002 through April 2004. The resulting dip in diversion rate can be evidenced in the historic diversion rate. The temporary interruption never restored the diversion rate prior to the suspension, nor the momentum that the rate was following. Can the Sunset Park MRF and PlaNYC recover this rate? The Department of Sanitation has said that one of the three ways in which it plans to meet PlaNYC’s goal of diverting 75% by 2030 and Mayor Bloomberg’s commitment to double the 2012 diversion rate in 5 years is through the new recycling processing facility.

ii. Current NYC Recycling

In order to determine the improvements of the facility, one needs to identify the current practices employed in New York City’s recyclable recovery. In the city, as of 2002, there were five facilities that handled the paper recycling waste stream, which was on average around 400,000 tons per year, or almost 60% of all municipal recyclables collected. The rest of the recyclable waste stream consisted of the metal, glass, and plastic (“MGP”) recyclables collected; around 300,000 tons. This stream was sent to four different recycling facilities.

The residential waste stream consists of roughly 11,000 tons per day and is serviced by the public, Department of Sanitation fleet of 2,200 trucks. This fleet also includes 450 street sweepers. The fleet is reported to travel about 25 million miles per year in total, using an average of 10 million gallons of diesel fuel. Waste is collected two to three times a week and transported from collection points (e.g. residences, businesses) to local “transfer stations” within the city, where it is reloaded to often larger, long-haul vehicles for transport to recycling facilities, landfills, or other disposal sites. Waste that is not processed for recycling is moved to primarily to landfill sites located in New Jersey, Ohio and South Carolina.

Likewise, the city produces about 11,000 tons of commercial building waste per day. In order to capture this waste and haul construction waste and demolition debris off of construction sites, the city licenses different private fleets. Licensed private fleets amount to a total of 4,281 trucks, while the construction and demolition (“CL-2”) fleets amount to 4,065 trucks. These fleets include rear-load “packer” trucks that collect and compress waste, grease tankers, box trucks, and trucks with roll-off hoists, which are used for carrying metal dumpsters.

b. Proposed MRF Facility Sustainability Evaluation

i. Design Elements

1. Barge Transport

Developed on the waterfront, to allow access to barges, the Sunset Park MRF aims to reduce the waste disposal truck traffic between the city’s waste transfer stations. The facility is set to be one of four proposed marine transfer stations, which will serve to replace the existing land transfer stations. Barges are said to be able to carry as much as 28 tractor-trailer trucks each. Counting all four marine stations, it is said that barge-based waste transfer may be able to reduce truck traffic by more than 3 million miles per year. For the Sunset Park MRF’s contribution, PlaNYC cites the planned elimination of “over 260,000 in-city vehicle miles traveled by City recycling collection trucks annually.” This reduction is said to create a more sustainable waste collection infrastructure. It will reduce the number of truck on the road, decreasing congestion and enhancing economic activity as less time is spent in traffic, allowing more time for economically-beneficial working or recreational time. The decrease in trucks would also equate to a substantial decrease in emissions, as these vehicles are a bigger contributor to local air pollution and GHG emissions than barges. Below is a map of land-based transfer stations around New York City along with the location of the Sunset Park MRF and three other proposed marine transfer stations.

2. Green building practices

The development has also chosen to employ several environmentally-conscious design elements. Plans includes using 98% recycled steel for the metal buildings, green roofs, onsite stormwater treatment, and offsetting dredging on the waterfront by developing coral reefs. The site fill is also made from recycled glass, asphalt, and rock from the Second Avenue subway construction, and uses recycled glass for the finish of visitors’ plazas. These elements show great consideration for sustainability in the design process and exhibit a level of sustainable construction unlike most other infrastructure projects of its kind. Prior to the facility, the site housed a city-owned parking lot used by the NYPD. Transforming the site to a recycling center with green roofs contributes to reduce the urban heat island effect due to the greening of the space and will retain more stormwater, reducing runoff from the site, which will serve to reduce combined sewage overflows. Further, recycling the materials excavated from the Second Avenue subway line makes the construction of the center embody its intended purpose – the recovery of waste streams for reuse as resource streams.

3. Site energy matrix and Other Benefits

Another important sustainability measure is the site’s plans of utilizing natural lighting, creating its own renewable energy, and the use of natural gas and ultra-low-sulfur diesel for machinery onsite, as opposed to dirtier fossil fuels. These technologies all serve to preserve the site’s identity as a sustainable infrastructure project beyond the construction phase. From a lifecycle analysis perspective, the administration of these features will allow the center to operate at a smaller expense to the environment, making the emissions associated with recovering each material, as opposed to mining or processing virgin sources, even more sustainable. To the latter point, studies have shown that recovering materials for use in manufacturing is much less energy-intensive than using virgin materials. The Sunset Park MRF goes beyond these energy savings because of its sustainable energy matrix, showing that from an operations perspective, it is, as billed, a much more sustainable method of recycling materials.

Other benefits that may be afforded through the design of the facility provide social and educational value. With 36% of the site slated to be greenspace and a planned educational center for students and visitors, the local community and the people of the city at large are being considered in the development of the project. In total, these benefits demonstrate a significant level of attention to the sustainability of the project, beyond its planned recovery of materials for reuse. It is yet to be seen if the facility will help divert more materials away from landfills, but the center is designed with an unparalleled level of foresight and planning, and can serve as an example of sustainable site development for infrastructure projects in the waste management field and beyond.

One of the city’s PlaNYC goals is to divert 75% of solid waste from landfills. To this extent, it is interesting to see if the Sunset Park MRF’s educational elements and physical presence in New York City will illuminate waste management problems and practices. Indeed NYC currently recycles approximately 15% of its collected waste; a rate that was, as aforementioned, higher before Mayor Bloomberg temporarily suspended curbside recyclable collection of glass and plastic in 2002 as a budgetary measure. With the publishing of PlaNYC, however, it seems that his administration is trying to reposition itself on the issue of waste collection. Perhaps the creation of the facility and the growing publicity that it receives will augment the rate. Geographically in a populous area of Brooklyn, the center will certainly make an impression in that community, which will perhaps extend further outward.

In order to accomplish a growth in this rate, the city needs to further disseminate information about the facility and recycling in general. It seems that this idea is already embedded into the project as a classroom and other educational elements of the project are noted in planning materials. The facility is set to handle about 250,000 tons per year of the city’s metal, glass, and plastic, as well as 150,000 tons of the its paper recyclables. However, at 15% diversion, these amounts can grow substantially and PlaNYC’s long-term planning goals and objectives are sure to factor in capacity for this growth.

Finally, the facility also promises creating 100 permanent new jobs (this figure is cited by some sources to be 80 new jobs). However this figure seems to be misleading and perhaps only truly a benefit for the community in which the facility is located. Since the facility will be processing the same amount of recyclables as it has been and will be operated by the same company, there is reason to believe that the new jobs will displace those in other MRF plants, producing a net zero effect when considering the greater New York Metropolitan area. For instance, the Claremont Recycling Center in Jersey City, New Jersey currently handles some of New York City’s metals, glass, and plastic recyclables, employing manual sorting techniques. Since all of the New York City recyclables are planned to be diverted to the Sunset Park MRF, the Claremont facility will have less materials to process, and will likely experience either layoffs or a move of workers to the Sunset Park facility, since both are operated by Sims Recycling.

II. Methods

In quantifying the impacts of the barge transportation’s reduction in refuse truck VMT on emissions congestion, considerations include the type of trucks used, the fuel-type used, average gas-mileage of the trucks, and emissions associated with the fuel type. To this point, the refuse trucks in New York are powered by diesel fuel, as 91% of US refuse trucks are. The calculation of emissions excludes any emissions from the 21 compressed natural gas (“CNG”) collection trucks and 3 hybrid collection trucks that are among the city’s fleet (e.g. the assumption is that the Department of Sanitation will not retire these trucks, but instead would opt to retire the oldest and worst emitters of the fleet). The report employs the fuel emissions coefficients outlined in New York City’s own Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Below is the representation of the formula used to calculate emissions as well the unit conversions necessary for all units used in the New York City Inventory:

Emissions Reduction = (Reduced VMT / Fuel Efficiency) * Emissions Coefficient

1 Gallon = 3.78541 Liters

1 Mile = 1.60934 Kilometers

1 Kilogram = 0.001 Metric tons

Diesel “heavy-duty vehicles” fuel efficiency = 3.65 Km / liter

Reduced VMT in Km = 260,000 * 1.60934 = 418,428.4 Km

CO2 Emissions Coefficient = 2.69720 Kg / liter

CO2 Emissions Reduction = (418,428.4 / 3.65) * 2.69720 = 114,638 * 2.69720 = 309,201.6 Kg / yr

= 309,201.6 * .001 = 309.2 Metric Tons / per year

III. Results

a. All Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The CO2 emissions calculated above are an average based on the fleet characteristics of the Department of Sanitation of New York. The EPA cites 22.2 pounds (0.01007 tons) of CO2 emissions for every gallon of diesel fuel consumed. Converted to Kg / liter, this rate is 2.66 (22.2 * 0.453592 / 3.78541). This rate is similar to the emissions coefficient provided by the Department of Sanitation, leading to the assumption that the other emissions coefficients are in line with national averages. The gas mileage cited by the Department of Sanitation seems to be better than that of other sources, which averages around 2.8 miles per gallon (roughly 1.19 km / L). This can be explained by the measures that the Department of Sanitation has been taking in order to reduce their fleet emissions (e.g. overhauling pre-1990s trucks for more efficient trucks that meet 2007 EPA standards). Below is a table with the calculation steps and results for each of the Greenhouse Gas emissions.

b. Emissions Reductions in the Context of New York City

In order to contextualize the calculation of 310 tons of emissions savings, it can be compared to the Inventory of New York City Greenhouse Gas Emissions published by PlaNYC. For 2011, the CO2e emissions contribution of the total on-road transportation in New York City was 9.7 million tons of CO2e. The estimated emissions reductions from the Sunset Park MRF’s waste transportation changes amount to 0.003% of these total annual emissions. The same report also produces an estimate for the amount of emissions produced by NYC government sources. For on-road transportation this was 0.4 million tons of CO2e in 2011. In comparison with this amount, the emissions reductions are 0.08%.

c. Congestion Reductions

Using the sources utilized for the calculation of emissions, the amount of vehicles that are set to be removed from the road can be assessed. The Department of Transportation’s public fleet of 2,200 refuse collection trucks travels a total of 25 million miles per year. The average annual mileage for each year is thus 11,364 (25 million / 2,200 trucks). The total reduced annual vehicle miles traveled (260,000), if assumed to be distributed equally for all of the trucks, can be estimated to account for about 23 refuse trucks (260,000 / 11,364). If this figure is compared to the total refuse collection truck fleet, the Sunset Park MRF is eliminating just over 1% of its fleet (23 / 2,200).

IV. Discussion

The emissions reductions outlined in the “Results” section of this report demonstrate that the project may contribute to a reduction of emissions, but not as substantially as one would hope. The savings of less than half of a percent of New York City on-road emissions are not justifiable at the estimated $95 million cost of the Sunset Park MRF. The savings of about 310 tons of CO2e emissions are nonetheless substantial and can be said to certainly be the option of choice over the lifespan of the Sunset Park MRF. Further, the energy conserved from the transport of the materials increases the efficiency associated with recovering these materials. In this sense, the emissions reductions are an important step to improving the lifecycle energy demand of products made from the recoverable materials; one that should be replicated in other cities as well.

PlaNYC’s claimed reductions in congestion are less obvious once quantified. At an estimated 23 annual trucks removed from the road, this figure does little to address congestion in New York City. While transportation planning projects can employ measures of economic productivity gains associated with the decrease of congestion, it is obvious that the reduction in refuse trucks on the road is too paltry to conduct such estimations. The refuse trucks affected by this change are those that would transport waste between transfer stations, as opposed residential collection trucks that idyll on residential streets. This is an issue more closely associated with congestion and should be explored by PlaNYC and the Department of Sanitation.

This research is preliminary and relies on several assumptions in its calculations. First, PlaNYC and other Sunset Park MRF planning documents, as well as those published by the operator, Sims, do not provide much analysis or methodology for calculating the savings of 260,000 VMT. The Department of Sanitation likewise does not provide documents about their planned refuse truck changes due to the installment of the Sunset Park MRF. This in itself can be indicative of an expected lack of significant impact on on-road emissions.

Further research should be conducted to supplement this study and to further evaluate the potential emissions and nonrenewable energy use reductions due to the Sunset Park MRF. This study fails to incorporate the energy use and emissions of barges. While it is known that barges can carry up to 28 times the capacity of a refuse truck and are a much more energy efficient source of transportation, there is a need to further evaluate their contribution to GHG emissions. As well, studies on effects to the Claremont Recycling Center and other existing recycling facilities need to be conducted, perhaps when the Sunset Park MRF is opened.

V. Summary of Dissemination Activity

This report has been submitted for dissemination to Appropedia.org. The Appropedia page created serves to evaluate the effects of the displaced VMT and other sustainable features of the Sunset Park MRF. Other users are encouraged to join in order to enhance the discussion and add input as to other sustainable elements of the project and the quantification of their impacts. The Appropedia page can be found here:

VI. Conclusion

The Sunset Park MRF is an important new infrastructure project that is set to help improve the materials lifecycle and the waste management system’s energy use and emissions. The benefits reviewed here are important improvements that highlight the true potential of the recycling plant. It must be noted that these improvements are not a product of the Sunset Park MRF alone, but a concerted effort from several of the initiatives of PlaNYC, as well as recent legislation and changing consumer and industry behavior and preferences. This report focused on qualitatively describing sustainable elements of the Sunset Park MRF as well as offering critiques of these elements, and of the plans and claims of PlaNYC’s literature in describing the new facility. It also provided a preliminary quantification of the claimed benefits in the reduction of refuse truck VMT, including claims of reduced emissions and congestion on New York City roads.

While the calculated results have shown that reductions in the emissions are too small to substantially alter the on-road emissions of the city, there is a substantial benefit to the sustainability of the waste disposal system and lifecycle of the materials it handles. The claim of congestion reduction is not substantiated by this study; the impact is perceived to be too small to afford any measurable benefits due to on-road de-congestion. However, the aforementioned savings in energy due to onsite production, the rainwater runoff reduction, and the educational elements introduced by the Sunset Park MRF make it a sustainable infrastructure project that will continually improve the waste management system of New York City. The reduction of refuse truck travel is a valuable addition to this project and will serve to improve the city government’s contribution to on-road emissions, however modestly.  

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