NYC Transit contractor mixed recyclables with trash, MTA inspector general says

Investigators found that New York City's subway and bus agency failed to separate recyclables from waste in over half of cases.

And even when separation was done properly, the contracted trash company would typically commingle recyclables with waste during carting, making paper and cardboard potentially unsuitable for recycling, according to the findings.

Those are among the findings of an audit by the office of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's inspector general, Daniel Cort, which estimates that roughly $800,000 could have been saved had recycling been done the right way at the New York City Transit agency.

Investigators who went to bus depots and maintenance shops observed "frequent mixing" of recyclables and normal trash — in violation of state and city law — while inflating the cost of waste removal. 

"A precipitous drop-off" in the amount of paper and cardboard recycled annually by New York City Transit began in 2019, according to the inspector general's office. NYC Transit is a part of the MTA.

Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director for the pro-transit Riders Alliance, lamented the audit's findings as "frustrating."

"Riders want the MTA to get value for our money and we want to feel confident that recyclables aren't being landfilled," he said. "While we're on the subject, there ought to be a way to compost food waste on the go rather than feed the rats. We can do better than this."

The office did not name the contractor. 

The audit does not cover practices in public areas of the transit system, where passengers throw out trash in single-stream bins, and a contractor later separates out the recyclables once trash is collected, according to inspector general spokesman Eric Lenkowitz.

A statement by the inspector general's office said it is in the process of preparing a second audit report related to that contractor’s "overall performance and billing practices."

In the report issued Tuesday, the office said its investigators visited 40 NYC Transit facilities, finding more than half "failed to properly separate recyclable cardboard and paper from general waste" — as required by New York State Public Authorities Law.

Common issues included missing or unlabeled recycling containers, recyclables placed directly into waste bins and staff unaware of the proper required recycling procedures, as mandated by law.

"Recycling at New York City Transit facilities is legally required, environmentally responsible, and financially beneficial to the MTA," Cort said in the statement. "While it is troubling that the agency and its contractors disregarded those obligations for years, I am pleased that the MTA has begun to implement some of our recommendations."

The audit found that the amount of recycled cardboard and paper from NYC Transit facilities dropped from 793 tons in 2018 to as few as 151 tons per year between 2020-2024. With better oversight, the audit found, NYC Transit could have saved between $107,000 and $158,000 annually through recycling costs and reduced waste-hauling costs.

In its statement Tuesday, the office said that, on top of the apparent deficiencies in the process, the carting contractor "admitted to the MTA that it did not dispatch a dedicated truck to pick up recyclable material as required by the contract," instead mixing recyclables and general waste product in the same truck — in violation of both city regulations and the terms of that contract. That commingling of materials can soil recycling material making it "unfit" for recycling, the statement said.

The office made nine recommendations to the MTA on how to improve operational procedures and oversight, with the agency "fully or partially" agreeing to implement six of those recommendations.

An MTA spokesperson said the authority had instructed the vendor to revise its collection processes. 

"The MTA is committed to environmentally conscious policies and practices across the agency," Laura Cala-Rauch said in a statement. "We have directed the vendor to make changes to trash and recycling collection procedures, including mandating electronic billing with all the information necessary on weight tickets as part of their next contract, and are retraining employees to improve sorting of trash and recyclables at transit facilities."