Análisis estadístico descriptivo de las dimensiones de la variable Resultados Comerciales

To reduce the costs and environ- mental impacts of handling food system waste, we must decrease the amount of waste we generate upstream. By making choices about what we purchase, how we use it, and what we discard, we can begin to decrease the volume and weight of our waste. However, doing so will require changes to our govern- ment purchases, better decision-

making by private sector producers and distributors, and encouraging better consumer choice. Our main strategy for reducing food system waste upstream will be to improve the environmental impact associat- ed with agencies’ and institutions’ food procurement.

STrATEGY:

Improve the net environmental impact associated with food procured by city agencies and institutions.

Just as the city has immense power to affect the regional food system through its purchasing policies, it can, through various policy changes, significantly reduce the waste stream. The city procures significant amounts of food and beverages for meal programs, vending machines, events, and other venues. Over the past 20 years, the city has made significant strides toward diverting recyclable materials in the waste stream. To fur- ther these efforts, the city should also reduce its impact upstream by reduc- ing its use of packaging overall, while also transitioning away from materials like polystyrene foam that cannot be easily recycled and toward recyclable and reusable materials.

Proposals:

• Reduce packaging on food procured by city agencies.

The City Council will be introducing legislation requiring the Mayor to es- tablish guidelines for city agencies to reduce packaging for the food they procure. The guidelines will outline preferred methods businesses may use to package their products. Com- panies will be encouraged to follow these guidelines, and those that con- sistently comply will be recognized. The City Council will also introduce a resolution calling on the state to authorize us to regulate the amount and type of material used to package goods that the city purchases.

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Recyclable Metal, 4.1% Recyclable Plastic Bottles, 1.5% Recyclable Beverage Cartons,

0.4% Construction Debris, 6.3% Household Hazadous Waste, 0.3%

Electronic Waste, 0.7% Textiles and Carpets, 7.0%

Other Materials, 15.1%

Food Scraps, 21.4%

Other Plastic, 13.4%

Recyclable Glass Containers, 2.4%

Recyclable Paper & Cardboard, 15.0% Organic Yard Trimmings, 5.2% Organic, Compostable,

Non-Recyclable Paper, 7.2%

Composition of Residential Waste in New York City 2004-2005

• Identify alternatives to polysty- rene foam in city food programs.

Reducing the city’s impact on the waste

stream will also require gradual elimina- tion of non-recyclable materials. One material that is very difficult to recycle is polystyrene foam, also known as Styrofoam.224 _{This foam material is light-} weight, but still contributes approximate- ly 16,500 tons of waste to the city’s waste stream annually.225 _{Currently, the city is} a large consumer of polystyrene due to

the New York City Department of Edu- cation’s (DOE) school lunch program, which serves meals on polystyrene trays. Each day, the school meal program uses 830,000 of these polystyrene trays.226 _As one parent organization contends, if you stack all of these trays they would be 8 times the height of the Empire State Building.227 _{The DOE has taken steps to} eliminate these trays one day per week, on “Trayless Tuesdays,” instead using a paper-based product. There are several challenges that prevent broader elimina-

tion of polystyrene trays. They tend to be less expensive than available alterna- tives and the paper products used for Trayless Tuesdays are not conducive to serving different types of foods. Working with the DOE and the Pratt Institute for Design, the City Council will launch a de- sign challenge for students nationally to create an alternative to the DOE’s poly- styrene trays. The challenge will include material, design, and cost parameters to encourage viable alternatives.

• Discourage bottled water consumption.

Over the past decade, consumption of bottled water nationally has increased ten-fold from 3 billion bottles annually in 1997 to 31 billion as of just a few years ago.228 _{Even though many plastic} water bottles are recyclable, significant resources are needed to manufacture, transport and dispose of or recycle those plastic bottles. By switching from disposable single-use bottles to reusable drinking containers, consum- ers can significantly decrease our solid waste stream. In an effort to lead by example, the City Council stopped purchasing bottled water for its central offices and events in 2008. To further discourage unnecessary reliance on single-use bottled water consumption, the City Council has passed new legis- lation to change a section of the city’s Building Code requiring building own- ers to provide potable water. The new law also discourages the reliance on bottled water by eliminating bottled water as a permissible option to satisfy the water availability requirements. Additionally, the legislation requires new water fountains installed as part of this requirement to be designed to allow for the use of reusable water containers. Since the city operates and maintains water fountains in parks and other outdoor public areas, we should encourage the installation of similarly designed drinking fountains at city water fountains. Together, these new policies will encourage broader transi- tion from consuming bottled water to reusable water bottles.

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Collage Illustration b

y Oman

GOAl 12

Increase resource recap-