Are Your Roosevelt Island Recyclables Being Properly Disposed Of By Building Management - Resident Says Not At Roosevelt Landings But Building Management Says Largely Due To Resident Choices

if I could wave a magic wand and make any garbage collection system happen it would be pneumatic trash collection like on Roosevelt island, obviously

— Amy Plitt (@plitter) June 21, 2019

But Roosevelt Island's garbage collection practices are not perfect. Recyclable trash items are not supposed to go into the Roosevelt Island Automated Vacuum Collection System (AVAC). It's amazing what gets shoved down the AVAC garbage system.

Last week, a Roosevelt Landings resident reported:

Following the lead of parents that are encouraging us to support the climate change march this Friday by us and our children, I have to share with Roosevelt Island what I found out regarding our recycling.

At least in Eastwood/Roosevelt Landings, all the items or bags left in the recycling containers are not recycled.

Why? Because they are not placed in CLEAR BAGS, and the building “doesn’t provide enough” according to the workers, neither is something workers want to do. So all recyclables are going down the chute.

So I urge you neighbors to ask in your buildings if your recyclables are being properly recycled and taken to the trash area across 40River Road, or if the building workers are throwing your items down the AVAC chute.

I am upset, angry but mostly sad, hurt and helpless. For a long time in Roosevelt Landings, I’ve been separating and recycling my trash. Even washing the jugs of milk and washing my cans.

It’s not fair!

Is there someone that can help with this situation? Or should we start a protest in our own neighborhood to address recycling situation in each building?

And added witnessing a building staffer:

... put in the chute a grocery size bag of my recyclables: one glass jar, 2 cans of tuna, a gallon jug of milk, 2 boxes of pasta and half a rim of used printer paper, plus several catalogs, plastic containers, plastic bags of the bread or ziplocks, starbucks cups,etc....

I'm so sad, literally I cried.

I asked Urban American's Josh Eisenberg for a reaction to the resident's report and comment about Roosevelt Landings recycling practices. Mr Eisenberg replied:

What gets recycled and what ends up in the trash is largely driven by the choices made by residents. Of course, it’s disappointing when an employee does not follow proper procedures with respect to trash collection. But there are more than 1000 apartments at Roosevelt Landings and dozens and dozens of AVAC chute rooms. Without specifics, we can issue a general reminder to the entire staff of their duties. If your commenter could provide more specifics as to what they saw and when they saw it, we can retrain those specific employees who made a mistake.

But to say that “all the items or bags left in the recycling containers are not recycled” and that “all recyclables are going down the chute” is simply untrue and an unfair characterization of the hard work that our union staff performs every day to clean and maintain such a large apartment complex.

I asked the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC):

Does RIOC have any policy regarding monitoring building efforts to comply with Avac recycling regulations?

A RIOC spokesperson replied:

Each building is responsible for their own garbage removal.

... RIOC puts its recyclable materials into a recycle bin in the AVAC yard, where it is collected separately from the rest of the garbage

According to the RIOC Capital Projects Planner:

AVAC Upgrades

Roosevelt Island’s Automated Vacuum Collection system (“AVAC”) needs upgrades after 40 years of service. The upgrade includes electric work to restore the controls currently affecting daily service, upgrade of the control system and installation of new blowers in the Terminal Station, and new valves in existing buildings.

A reliable source reports that plans are underway to improve environmental practices on Roosevelt Island by talking with all groups, RIOC, building managers and businesses to help understand what systems exist to better know what can be improved and all the steps needed to get there.

Will update when more info available.

Josh Eisenberg describes in detail Urban American's renewable energy and efficiency efforts at Roosevelt Landings.

Over the past eleven years, Urban American Management has made substantial investments at Roosevelt Landings to reduce the buildings carbon footprint through renewable energy measures, and energy efficiency measures. Roosevelt Landings is currently featured in the Building Energy Exchange exhibit at City Hall as one of the most successful deep energy retrofits of a multifamily building in New York City. Urban American is proud to have been one of the first management companies to sign on to the Mayor’s Carbon Challenge to meet citywide goals for carbon reduction and sustainability.

The Carbon Reduction features of the “Deep Energy Retrofit” at Roosevelt Landing includes:

Renewable Energy Measures: A cogeneration plant paired with new high-efficiency hot water heaters that use a single source of energy; natural gas, to generate electricity, and domestic hot water (DHW) for the building.

Energy-Efficiency Measures: A combination of advanced energy-efficiency retrofits composed of: a) air sealing of common spaces and resident apartments, b) smart grid controlled programmable thermostats and window sensors in all resident apartments, c) foam insulation applied to exterior exposed concrete slabs under resident apartments, d) new energy efficient windows throughout the complex and, e) LED lighting upgrade throughout the complex.

Building Resiliency: The cogeneration system installed at Roosevelt Landings is an example of improved infrastructure that will have a dramatic positive impact on people's lives during emergencies like Super Storm Sandy. Like many other buildings in New York, Roosevelt Landings was impacted by Sandy and suffered a temporary power outage that affected a third of its apartments due to flooding of a subterranean electrical room. The Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and boiler system located on the 21st floor of the property's tallest building and support building resiliency by providing residents with basic utilities like hot water for bathing and washing, and water for drinking and flushing and cleaning even when the electric grid is down. Further – electricity can be maintained in the generating room during a power outage, thereby also creating an emergency management command center.

In addition, the building participates in bulk power purchases, demand response programs, and has senior maintenance staff certified as Energy Efficient Building Operators.

Consequentially – Roosevelt Landings has reduced Carbon Emissions by 3,130,671 lbs (21%) between 2008 and 2018.

The impact of these measures is significant and demonstrated in the attached chart.

Though recycling is part of our sustainability plan at many buildings, in practice, recycling is very difficult to implement in a complex as large as Roosevelt Landings, particularly as it is driven largely by the responsibility of the tenants to properly follow recycling guidelines with respect to their trash.

UPDATE 5:45 PM

Honestly it's both parties. Staff told us to just Chuck all the garbage & recycling down the shoot. Of course we don't do that bc that's a terrible thing to do but I also see so many residents just throw anything down the shoot. Pizza boxes, beer cans, everything. https://t.co/8XwAd5yMcl

— mrs (@itsElizaRo) September 24, 2019

And:

... we recycle and the maintenance guys just throw it all down the AVAC! I keep Recycling the least I can for the planet!!!...

and:

... your statement is so true.

I share a bedroom wall with the AVAC suite. The noise from the chute that is not insulated. The crashing of garbage hitting the bottom floor is a problem I have addressed on many occasions with management.

Yes, some tenants do not recycle their garbage and throw their items on the floor of the avac room, However when maintenance men feel it's an inconvenience for them to make a trip downstairs to the basement to discard items from each floor, the Avac chute is an easy way to solve the problem.