New York City is home to over 80 materials exchange and reuse organizations (reuse organizations) that help redistribute unwanted, yet usable, goods such as computers, bicycles, building materials, industrial discards, office furniture, surplus food, and textiles by selling them at low prices or donating them to those in need. These services prevent waste, reduce disposal costs, make products affordable to the low-income segment of society, create jobs and result in substantial natural resource and energy conservation.
Reuse organizations are leaders in green economy and contribute greatly to the higher goal of sustainable urban life. Many reuse organizations have very limited or no means to track their business activities in detail, and therefore cannot quantify their contribution to the social, environmental and economic structure of the communities they serve, thus their impact is excluded from the overall sustainability goals in New York City. There is need to examine each of the reuse organizations to assist them in transitioning to a mode of operation that emphasizes comprehensive data collection, and allow them to quantify their social, economical and environmental impacts.
To address this need, NYC Materials Exchange Development Program (MEDP) has begun the development and implementation of the NYC Reuse Sector Data Management Project (DMP).
The objective of the DMP is to develop a data management system that will use qualitative and quantitative information voluntarily provided by reuse organizations operating in New York City to that will enable MEDP to analytically describe the environmental, social and commercial impact of each organization and collectively as a sector on the sustainability of urban life in New York City.
Data provided by reuse organizations will be standardized and the material composition of products will be determined. The weight of materials will be incorporated in existing universally accepted calculators to determine the energy conservation or tons of CO2 emissions avoided by the reuse of products. It is also an objective to evaluate qualitative impact parameters such as employment opportunities created, natural resources (trees, water) conserved, and levels of pollution prevented from occurring.
The effort can only be realized if the reuse organizations of New York City are willing to voluntarily offer their operating business data to the DMP staff. The product of this project will be an annual NYC Reuse Sector Report where each data contributing organizations will be profiled, their annual contribution to sustainability in NYC will be presented, and the overall evaluation of the sectors contribution to sustainability of New York City will be presented. The first report is planned for June 2012.
The DMP in envisioned as a long term project that will be established as a collaboration between MEDP, NYC reuse organizations, the Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling (NYC Department of Sanitation) and potentially other contributors at the national level.