WRMI 2004 Annual Report

Introduction

In 1985, the New York State Legislature created the Waste Reduction and Management Institute (WRMI) to address the increasingly complex waste issues arising on Long Island.  Environmental issues involving the terrestrial environment, the coastal ocean, and the atmosphere often arise in the New York metropolitan region, mostly due to the region’s large population.  In many cases, these environmental issues are thought to be caused by waste management practices.  The Marine Sciences Research Center (MSRC) and WRMI have played important roles in researching and assessing many of these issues.

WRMI’s goal is to reduce the impact of waste generation on society through a program of research, assessment, education and policy analysis.  To realize this goal, WRMI has promoted waste prevention strategies, improved understanding of the cycling of contaminants in the environment, and developed creative uses for waste materials.  WRMI has also analyzed a number of waste management/marine pollution policy initiatives.

The Institute continues to have five faculty members who advise and support a significant portion of MSRC graduate students.  Our Graduate Certificate Program in Waste Management now has graduated more than 200 students.  Some go on to jobs in town and county governments.  Others are in the field of education, and hopefully they are disseminating information to their students about the importance of protecting our environment.

WRMI’s research has covered such topics as assessing degradation of plastics in the environment, and assessing the chemistry of various waste streams including municipal solid waste, sewage, sewage sludge, and deck residue from ore carriers.  The Institute has also determined the impact of those waste streams on the environment, as well as tracking the route of leachate from the Brookhaven and Holtsville landfills.  WRMI has examined the transformation, fate, and effect of numerous metals in aquatic systems and marine organisms.  We developed secondary materials made from waste products (ash) and/or analyzed the environmental and engineering properties of secondary materials (plastics).  We have written or helped to write solid waste management plans for several Long Island towns and periodically analyzed Long Island’s municipal solid waste stream.  We were the prime research unit to determine the sources, transport routes, and effects of the massive wash ups of marine debris on New York and New Jersey beaches.  We have analyzed the impacts of various laws or policies including the Suffolk County Plastics Ban Act and the Ocean Dumping Ban Act.  The Institute is now very actively involved in the analysis of the 1999 lobster mortalities in Long Island Sound and the assessment of mosquito spraying on the aquatic environment. 

            The Institute is largely self-supporting at this point.  Grants and contracts this year amount to about $1.2 million.  In some cases, there are principal investigators external to WRMI.  Therefore, we estimate this number based on the contribution to WRMI (see grants listed in Active Grants and Contracts).  The initial state support allowed for the hiring of excellent faculty, who have been able to attract grants from which world-class research facilities have been established.

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