Volunteering & Volunteer Students

Recycling is one of the easiest ways to execute virescence on a daily basis. My boyfriend and I regularly have more recycling than waste on a weekly basis, which I think is pretty awesome. As a city that produces astronomical amounts of waste (64,000 tons of residential waste per week according to a 2004-2005 NYC Residential and Street Basket Waste Characterization Study available on the nyc.gov website), I’m thoroughly impressed with the recycling I’ve seen at every residential building I’ve either lived in or visited.

However, even with all of the recycling laws and residential centers in place, NYC only recycles 17% of it’s waste, even though there is a city-wide law requiring it to reach 25% by 1994. Here we are, 15 years later, and still not even close to the required rate.  Evidently, we’ve got some work to do, and I plan to get started.

While I don’t have the time or resources to initiate a city-wide over-haul of the recycling system, I can do something simple and small that will help in my immediate area. As a resident of an NYC borough, even though my building has a recycling program, I can become involved to improve it. The New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has implemented the Apartment Building Recycling Initiative (ABRI). The ABRI is an initiative designed to enable residents to volunteer and educate their neighbors on the nitty-gritty of recycling (availability, what items can be recycled, etc), post DSNY provided signage and have a visit from a Sanitation Outreach Coordinator who gives personalized suggestions to improve the building’s recycling program. I argue that this program is great for all residential buildings; whether they don’t currently have recycling in place, are looking to improve their program, or simply wish to remind their residents how easy it is to do their part. My plan is to attempt to become an ABRI Volunteer for my building.

How to become an ABRI Volunteer:

1. Meet ABRI Requirements:
   1. Enrollee must be at least 18 years of age (check)
   2. Live in, work in, or manage a residential building with three or more units that currently receives DSNY collection (check)
   3. Be willing to work cooperatively with building management to enhance recycling within the building, with building management’s signed consent (check)
   4. Take part in at least one ABRI training session (will do)
2. The interested volunteer (ie: me) must submit a form from the DSNY’s website (in progress)

I’m slightly worried about objective “c”. My building’s management has to sign off on my ABRI form, allowing a Sanitation Outreach Coordinator to inspect their recycling practices, and I’m unsure how they will react to the attention. If they refuse to allow me the title of ABRI Volunteer, I can still become an ABRI Friend.  The ABRI Friend gets to attend training sessions and receive recycling related email updates, but they do not have authorization to volunteer in their building.  It’s small, but it’s something.

I’ll post updates on my progress here under the category The Green – ABRI Happenings

If you’re an NYC resident in any of the five boroughs and are interested in pursuing your own ABRI Volunteer-ship, visit the ABRI website at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/recycling_abri.shtml