New York City Case Study

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New York City is one of the biggest and most influential cities in the world. With a visible impact over the entire US, and perhaps the entire world, New York stands as one of the two only cities in the world (with London) recognized by the Globalization and World Cities Network (GaWC) as an “Alpha + + city”, described as a city “vastly more integrated with the global economy than any other cities” (The World According to GaWC 2012). To this day New York City continues to grow and further expand its influence over the rest of the world, continuously attracting more businesses and workers to The Big Apple. Although New York is a world pioneer in countless industries, there are others that need to catch up, namely the waste and garbage disposal industry. The rapid growth of the city’s consuming habits and population has left the industry behind, leaving the outdated methods of collection and disposal trying to play a game of catch-up that is negatively affecting the city’s growth potential. For New York City to continue with its pattern of population, economic and influence prosperity and growth, the government and private sector must come together to change every step of the cycle involved (from the buying of the product to its last stop before being dealt with) to create a more sustainable and more long-term orientated strategy to fix this growing problem.
First all parties involved must understand that a task of such magnitude will likely require a monetary investment that will not necessarily be reimbursed the same way. Sometimes investments yield results that aren’t as tangible as money, such as success and long term growth, but this does not mean that the investment is not worth it. Any monetary investment that goes towards i...

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...es, and way of doing so is by recycling some of it. The problem with recycling is that it is not a task for the homeowners to take on, it is a task for the government as well. The public has been sent confusing messages about the importance of recycling. Although they are constantly reminded of the importance of it, the government has done little to ease the process. New York has less than 1000 recycling containers, a tiny amount when compared to the over 30,000 wastebaskets around the city (NYC’s Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan).
Incentives must be put in place by the government to encourage recycling. A perfect example of public policy initiatives would be the nickel deposit on bottles, an amount that has remained unchanged for over 30 years, and has become almost obsolete, as it is simply not enough for people to go through the trouble of exchanging

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