The City has been looking to develop a commercial waste zone program (commonly referred to as waste franchising), whereby the City would be divided into zones, and each zone would only be serviced by a small number of waste haulers. Each building or business in each district would only be allowed to hire one of those several companies for their waste management needs.
BOMA New York has opposed such a franchising system. However, the City Council has gone one step further, and proposed legislation that would only allow one waste hauling company per zone, so that there would be no competition at all. In addition, because a single waste hauling company could win contracts for up to 15 out of 20 districts, the entire commercial waste management industry could shrink down to as few as 2 companies.
Because the Council's so-called exclusive system of franchising could have such a disastrous impact on the cost and quality of service related to waste management, which could have major impacts on large commercial buildings, we are opposing exclusive franchising outright. At the same time, we are re-thinking our position on waste zones with multiple haulers as a better alternative, depending on whether we can get some additional protections and services.
It's a complicated set of issues, and we will continue to work hard to get as many protections as possible for BOMA New York members. Featured in Politico on June 27, 2019 – the following is a link to the BOMA New York testimony in opposition of the proposed bill.
