NJ AND NY TRASH FREE WATERS PARTNERSHIP PLANNING MEETING

Transcription

1 NJ AND NY TRASH FREE WATERS PARTNERSHIP PLANNING MEETING JUNE 18, 2015 EPA REGION 2 OFFICES NEW YORK CITY A SUMMARY BY THE SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCE CENTER

2 NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK TRASH FREE WATERS PARTNERSHIP PLANNING MEETING June 18, 2015, EPA Region 2 Offices, New York City SUMMARY REPORT Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center August 24, 2015 Contents I. Executive Summary 1 II. Planning Meeting Agenda and Objectives 2 III. Working Group Project Reports 2 Bottles 2 Butts 2 Bags 3 Boxes 3 Beads/plastics 3 Messaging 3 IV. Other Notable Discussion 4 V. NJ/NY TFW Partnership Next Steps 5 Appendices: A: June 18 th New Jersey/New York Trash Free Waters Partnership Planning Meeting Agenda 6 B: Guest Presentation Highlights 7 Disclaimer: This document is an informational record of a discussion held on June 18, It was prepared for informational purposes only. The information presented herein should not be cited or quoted as the endorsed views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center (EFC), or the organizations represented by the meeting participants.

3 I. Executive Summary To further strengthen and develop regional marine debris protection efforts, Region 2 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a Trash Free Waters (TFW) program in the New Jersey/New York area. This initiative incorporates a strategic approach to support aquatic trash prevention and reduction initiatives through the actions of public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders in the form of the NJ/NY TFW Partnership ( Partnership ). The Partnership places a strong emphasis on collaboration; specifically, it seeks to help states, municipalities, academia, NGOs, and businesses work together to develop innovative aquatic trash management strategies and projects in targeted geographic areas. The TFW program serves as a catalyst for issue analysis, facilitated dialogue, strategic planning, and program implementation. Regional TFW strategies and projects have been planned and initiated to reflect stakeholders needs and concerns. By supporting such efforts, the goal of the Partnership is to develop a focused set of actions and projects that significantly reduces the volume of trash entering watersheds and ultimately the marine environment, approaching zero-loading of trash into U.S. waters within 10 years. On June 18, a third planning meeting was held to guide the Partnership to approach this goal. The June 18 NJ/NY TFW Partnership Planning Meeting served to build on the previous October 30, 2014 and February 12, 2015 meetings, as well as subsequent Working Group calls. The October Planning meeting sought to 1) Gain a better understanding of the current state of aquatic trash issues in NJ and NY, 2) Develop strategies to reduce trash entering NJ/NY waterways and, 3) To create Working Groups centered on targeting themes and strategies. These Working Groups are composed of local government, non-profit and private members and are focused upon creating and implementing tangible projects to reduce aquatic trash consisting of Plastic: Bags, microbeads/microplastics, beverage Bottles, single use food service Boxes (including, polystyrene), and cigarette Butts. Collectively, the waste streams are referred to as PB5. Additionally, an Education/Messaging Working Group was created at the February 12 Meeting in order to address crosscutting educational themes that exist throughout the PB5 Working Groups. After the initial October Planning Meeting, the PB5 Working Groups created an extensive list of project ideas and actions. The February 12, 2015 meeting focused on narrowing down the project list to a more manageable set of tasks and project ideas with achievable, timely and measureable outcomes. During the following round of Working Group calls, the projects were prioritized. Following the February 12 meeting, the PB5 and Messaging Working Groups focused on the suggested project ideas. The working groups initiated projects, and reported on project successes, challenges, and opportunities at the June 18 NJ/NY TFW Partnership Planning Meeting. 1

4 II. Planning Meeting Agenda and Objectives The June 18 NJ/NY TFW Partnership Planning Meeting served to build on the previous October 30, 2014 and February 12, 2015 meetings, as well as subsequent Working Groups project developments. The meeting objectives were as follows: To provide an opportunity for the TFW stakeholders to learn about the Columbia Marine Debris Research Team s report and ReThink Disposable with the purpose of expanding their efforts utilizing the TFW partnership, To gather TFW working groups for project development updates and solicit help and ideas from the TFW partnership, and To determine next steps and additional resources that will support the implementation of these projects. III. Working Group Project Reports The NJ/NY TFW Partnership is committed to creating achievable, measurable and timely projects that will reduce the amount of trash entering our Nation s waterways, with the goal of achieving zero trash loading within 10 years. At the June 18 Planning Meeting, the PB5 and Messaging Working Group leaders reported on project statuses, with emphasis on successes, challenges, and opportunities. The following list summarizes the Working Groups updates: Bottles (Team Leader: Venetia Lannon) Hydration station fact sheet completed. To be circulated to rest of Working Group for revisions. Secured a commitment for one hydration station on Staten Island from the National Parks Service. There is also the preliminary commitment for approximately six more stations (potential locations include Forth Wadsworth and Great Kills). Data needed with National Parks Service to help measure impact after the implementation of these systems. For example, data collection before and after installation of hydration station. o Is there a decrease in plastic bottle use after installation of hydration station? Developing a webinar to educate on efforts to reduce bottle consumption. Butts (Team Leader: Josh Kogan) Pilot program to research effect of cigarette butt receptacles at transition sites (e.g. bus stations, subway entrances, building entrances). o Receptacle locations to be researched and determined o Keep America Beautiful offered to donate pocket ash trays and cigarette butt receptacles for distribution. o Data collection of cigarette litter before and after installation of receptacles and distribution of pocket ash trays will be required o Focus on prevention (i.e. less smokers) partnering with the American Lung Association. Further research opportunities: behavior science and ecig waste o Is this an emerging litter problem? o Has any data been documented? 2

5 Bags (Team Leader: Jennie Romer) Analyzing purchasing practices: In-person survey developed to determine the type of bags shoppers are currently using in the store what they are walking away with? Working with a large supermarket to have cashier s engaged in making a note as people leave. Other projects would need to be implemented to support the Bag It NYC initiative, as this would put a 10-cent charge on all carry out bags. o New Jersey cities are moving towards a per bag charge Princeton is moving forward with a bag ordinance, and City Council is exploring a fee option. Boxes (Team Leader: Josh Kogan) Partnering with Universities: o Connecting NJ Universities with Clean Ocean Action to explore the use of internships to promote the ReThink Disposable campaign. o Work with NY Universities (e.g. CUNY, SUNY, NJ schools) to promote the Marine Debris & Plastic Source Reduction Toolkit (available on Region 9 website). Sustainable Jersey is willing to work with TFW can spotlight communities in their monthly newsletter and would be a source for educational material. Bloomberg L.P. will be working with the Littoral Society to digitize data, break it down and show trends. Brooklyn College has been conducting Beach and Street trash surveys of plastics, using an altered NOAA protocol. These surveys are working hand-in-hand with educational programming. Clean Ocean Action offered play a stronger role in the boxes work group. Microbeads/Microplastics (Team Leader: Catie Tobin) Clean Ocean Action and Baykeeper Alliance are documenting the abundance of microplastics in NJ waterways. Use this date to identify next steps. o Started in 2004, out of 70 sites 32 have been sampled. o Sand and water sampling. o Data will be available by the end of fall Create sharing website of sampling data GIS overlay o Would help locate sources Bloomberg L.P. will be working with Clean Ocean Action to digitize data, break it down and show trends. NY/NJ Baykeeper kicked-off a 5 Gyres-inspired trawling pilot project. Results expected by the end of this summer. NY/NJ Baykeeper conducting an experiment to learn if microplastics can harm oysters, and ultimately, oyster restoration projects. Messaging (Team Leader: Debby Lee Cohen) Creation of peer-to-peer videos by youth in low-income and minority communities underway. Also supporting the creation of high school level TFW clubs Working to create a PB5 Resource Room or Virtual Wall. o Making all of the TFW PB5 educational materials more easily accessible by compiling into one place. 3

6 o Working to figure out what the succinct message would be have a campaign with young children to help figure this message out. o Message development storytelling, creating power points, videos, toolkits, etc. to tell the story of the 5Bs. o Create a visual map that shows where there are overlaps between the groups. Hope to identify good partners (marketing firms, celebrities) to get the message out about the 5Bs. IV. Other Notable Discussion Columbia University Marine Trash Prevention Cost Study Region 2 EPA funded a Columbia University study (Quantifying the Financial Costs to Communities of Managing Trash in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary) that, through the survey of NY and NJ municipalities, quantified the costs of managing marine debris in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary on an annual basis. The research students presented their results, along with the Bottles Working Group leader, Venetia Lannon (NYSDEC); the results showed: $60M spent annually in a 790 mile-square watershed ($6.16 per capita) $76,000/mile-square annually 121 municipalities surveyed; 34 responded 28.1% response rate/71.2% population Region 2 Trash Free Waters Program Coordinator Announcement Region 2 has hired Joshua Kogan, PE as the new full-time regional TFW program coordinator. He s a licensed (NY State) professional Water Resources/Environmental engineer, who has practiced as an engineering consultant in wet-weather design, since receiving his Environmental Engineering Master s in Josh will integrate himself within the working groups, as well as plan TFW initiatives in-step with other Regional programs (Making a Visible Difference, Green Infrastructure). Josh will coordinate all TFW efforts throughout Region 2. Region 2 Trash Free Waters Small Grants Program Regional Administrator, Judith Enck, announced a forthcoming Trash Free Waters small grants program. No details could be shared at the time. Partnership members to expect program specifics in the near future. Balloon-based Plastics Pollution The Clean Virginia Waterways recent balloon aquatic pollution study was mentioned. The results of the study are expected to be released this year, and discussion was had to either include or not include balloons as R2 TFW Partnership objective. No decision was made. Puerto Rico Trash Free Waters Program Update Region 2 Trash Free Waters initiatives are implemented under the 2010 Puerto Rico Recycles Partnership. Claudia Gutierrez (EPA, Region 2) updated the Partnership on Puerto Rico TFW status, as to compare to the similar approach being used in developing actionable and achievable projects. 4

7 V. NJ/NY Partnership Next Steps Working Groups will continue with the implementation of their projects, and associated monthly planning/strategy conference calls. Any projects in emergent phases will undergo development and commence. Joshua Kogan will work with each of the six Working Groups with the objective of managing projects through completion. Dan D Agostino will completely phase-out his responsibilities by June 26 th, while Maureen Krudner will remain involved with some specific projects. The next Partnership planning meeting will be scheduled in November 2015, and will be used to highlight the continued achievements of the Region 2 TWF Partnership. Additionally, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been invited to speak on circular economy and its potential in significantly reducing aquatic trash pollution. 5

8 Appendix A June 18 New Jersey/New York Trash Free Waters Partnership Planning Meeting Agenda NY/NJ%Trash%Free%Waters%Partnership%Meeting% June%18,%2015% 290%Broadway,%NY,%NY%Room%27A% % AGENDA% 9 9:30am Registration 9:30 9:45am WelcomeandIntroductions 9:45 10:30am Presentations Sharepointoverview QuantifyingtheCostsofManagingMarineDebrisintheHudsonJRaritanEstuaryJ VenetiaLannon,RegionalDirector,NewYorkCity,NYSDEC BoRaKim&CaseyFurr,ColumbiaMarineDebrisResearchTeam ReThinkDisposalJAmyGoldsmith,NewJerseyDirector,CleanWaterAction 10:30 11:00amWorkgroupsreportoutandgroupdiscussion Bottles Butts 11:00 11:15Break 11:15 12:15pm Workgroupscontinued Bags Boxes Beads Messaging 12:15 12:45pm NextSteps/Wrapup 1:00 2:00pm OptionallunchatTribeca skitchen,200churchst. 6

9 Appendix B Guest Presentation Highlights Venetia Lannon, Regional Director, New York City, NYSDEC and Bo Ra Kim & Casey Furr, Columbia Marine Debris Research Team Quantifying the Costs of Managing Marine Debris in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary 80% of plastic originates from land West coast did study in 2003 in California, Washington, and Oregon o Clean up activities included: Beach and waterway cleanup, Street sweeping, Storm drain cleaning, Stormwater run off catching, Manual debris, and Public education. Tax-payer dollars in Hudson-Raritan Estuary= $59M total, $76,000 per square mile, $6.16 per capita Hudson-Raritan Estuary is spending as much/more for water and land waste cleanup as the whole west coast does. Amy Goldsmith, New Jersey Director, Clean Water Action ReThink Disposal Focus on single-use items o Takeout from restaurants, food trucks, etc. o Plastic bottles Recognition of success for restaurants and food trucks NJ Ashbury Park Madison Marquet excited about ReThink Disposable o Benefits: can save money and improve image o Focus on the food truck garden Create incentives for customers to bring their own containers Partner training is available on ReThink Disposable website 7