N.Y. County Rejects Flow Control

Rebekah A. Hall

Kingston, N.Y. -- With the help of the Washington, D.C.-based National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA), the Ulster County Environment Committee has decided against a resolution that would have given its waste authority total control of refuse in its jurisdiction. Instead, the county will keep solid waste operations open to competition. Also, the general fund will be used to help subsidize the authority’s operations.

According to NSWMA, it worked with county businesses to develop a grassroots campaign fighting flow control in the past several months. "In rejecting a flow control monopoly … these legislators acted as fiscal guardians for the residents, communities and businesses of the county by protecting them from a waste monopoly, run by a nonelected authority board and staff that are unaccountable to the voters," said Steve Changaris, NSWMA’s northeast region manager.