MTA staff ignored primary recycling legal guidelines — sending a whole bunch of tons of recyclables to landfills and shedding $800,000 in financial savings on its trash-hauling contract over 5 years, in accordance with a report launched Tuesday.
Staff at amenities owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — which frequently touts its companies as eco-friendly — weren’t separating recyclables from common trash, the brand new report from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s inspector basic discovered.
In uncommon circumstances the gadgets have been separated, the contracted waste hauler combined cardboard and paper again in with rubbish, the report mentioned.
The quantity of cardboard and paper the waste hauler recycled dropped by virtually 80% between 2018 and 2023.
“The truth that the Carting Firm commingled recyclables and Waste from the amenities serviced by single‑compartment, rear load rubbish vans is kind of troubling as a result of virtually all company areas assigned recycling containers – 104 out of 107, or 97% – have been serviced by these vans,” the report mentioned.
MTA board information present that Motion Carting Environmental Providers, a New Jersey‑primarily based agency, gained a refuse and recycling contract in 2019 value about $39.2 million, and later acquired a two‑yr extension valued at $19.3 million
The deal required staff to maintain cardboard and paper separate from common rubbish by utilizing a devoted recycling truck and generally gave the MTA a credit score for the recycling relying on market costs.
However even when MTA employees set cardboard and paper apart staff, the contractor often loaded the recycling into the identical single‑compartment rubbish vans used for trash, in accordance with the investigation by IG Daniel Cort.
The trucking firm reported it recycled 793 tons of cardboard and paper in 2018, the report mentioned. That dropped to 165 tons in 2024, in accordance with the IG — the identical yr the MTA board voted to increase the contract with Motion Carting.
The contract even estimated recycling ought to have been a lot larger at about 576 tons per yr.
Representatives for Motion Carting Environmental Providers admitted at a Particular Accountability Listening to in Might 2026 that they had not been utilizing a devoted recycling truck and mentioned drivers generally simply eyeballed the quantity of recycling to estimate its weight.
The MTA’s Asset Restoration unit, which was purported to handle the contract, didn’t flag or examine the drop, despite the fact that billing information confirmed recycling dumps have been happening solely about as soon as per week as a substitute of 5 days per week as required, in accordance with the report.
The IG additionally discovered MTA staff at 21 out of 40 bus depots and restore retailers inspected weren’t separating recyclables from trash.
At 23 websites, recycling containers lacked labels, and not less than seven websites have been lacking some or the entire recycling bins listed within the service plan, in accordance with the IG.
The report estimated that the MTA misplaced between $107,000 and $158,000 every year and almost $800,000 over 5 years in missed recycling credit and pointless pickup and dumping charges for trash that would have been recycled.
The inspector basic mentioned the MTA promised to require GPS knowledge and digital weight info to its subsequent trash and recycling contract.
A separate comply with‑up audit that has not but been launched that may look extra intently on the Motion Carting Environmental Providers efficiency and billing.
Motion Carting Environmental Providers didn’t instantly reply to The Submit’s request for remark.
An MTA spokesperson mentioned the company remained dedicated to “environmentally acutely aware insurance policies and practices.”
“Now we have directed the seller to make adjustments to trash and recycling assortment procedures, together with mandating digital billing with all the knowledge needed on weight tickets as a part of their subsequent contract, and are retraining staff to enhance sorting of trash and recyclables at transit amenities,” the spokesperson mentioned.
