New York's environmental agency left many recycling plants uninspected and let missing reports slide, the state comptroller found
Subject of this story
Also named
What happened
An August 2026 New York State Comptroller audit (Report 2024-S-28) found the Department of Environmental Conservation did not inspect 138 of 389 registered or permitted recycling handling and recovery facilities (35%) between January 2021 and December 2023, and lacks written procedures on how often to inspect and how to enforce. Of 1,065 required annual reports, DEC did not receive 341; it issued five notices of violation to three facilities over the period, and auditors said it was unclear why it issued none to 28 other facilities that did not submit annual reports. Facilities could support only 21% of the recyclables they reported receiving and 9% of what they reported recovering, leaving DEC unable to reliably say how much New York recycles. DEC generally agreed with the recommendations while disputing some findings.
Sources (3)
Response
Contacted and responded — exact wording not on record.
What happened next (0)
No outcome recorded yet.