New York Looks to Cut Emissions by Private Trash Haulers
By WINNIE HU
Published: November 11, 2013
As aging garbage trucks rumble down the streets of New York, their fumes draw protests from residents and environmental advocates and raise concerns about asthma and other health effects.
The administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, which has made cleaner air a priority, has taken steps to modernize the city’s fleet of diesel-powered vehicles — including about 2,000 trucks used for picking up residential waste and recyclables — with newer, less-polluting models. Under a law the mayor signed in September, by 2017 at least 90 percent of these vehicles must meet the tougher emission control standards for diesel trucks that the federal Environmental Protection Agency set in 2007.
But those trucks are not the only ones on the streets. Now the administration wants to impose similar requirements on private haulers who dispose of the city’s commercial garbage and recyclables, as well as construction and demolition debris.
A new proposal would require about 8,300 private collection trucks to meet the same federal emissions standards by 2020, three years after the deadline for the municipal fleet. The proposal, which requires the approval of the City Council, is part of a larger package of revisions to the city’s air pollution control code.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/nyregion/new-york-looks-to-cut-emissions-by-private-trash-haulers.html?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytmetro&_r=0