Former sanitation officials voice support for commercial zoning
Two former top sanitation officials on Friday will announce their support for a citywide zoning system to govern how private waste carters operate throughout the five boroughs.
Brendan Sexton, who served as sanitation commissioner during the Koch administration, and Ron Gonen, who was former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “recycling czar,” will offer their support for commercial waste zones, a system whereby one contractor is responsible for picking up the commercial refuse for an entire sector of the city.
The city is reviewing the current system after labor and environmental advocates launched a campaign against many private carters they accuse of inefficiency, subpar recycling practices and providing unsafe working conditions. The system, critics say, allows for multiple carting companies to have contracts for the same sections of town. Often a dozen or more garbage trucks from different companies will roll through a single city block in one night.