April 2016

Appointed in March 2014 by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Commissioner Kathryn Garcia leads the nation’s largest municipal waste management agency and its 9,700 uniformed and civilian employees. Under her direction, they keep New York City healthy, safe and clean by collecting, recycling and disposing waste, cleaning streets and vacant lots, and clearing snow and ice. After her appointment as the Department’s 43rd commissioner, Garcia set an ambitious long-term goal for New York City: send zero waste to landfills by 2030. From promoting electronics and textile recycling to enhancing...Read more

Mr. Van Woert has over 20 years of experience in the solid waste, recycling and renewable energy fields in the areas of operations, employee safety, development, demonstration and commercial application.   More recently, he has applied these same skill sets for development of source separated organic food waste processing facilities.  These systems are designed to take common everyday solid waste and convert it into a renewable and alternative energy source.  He has been successful in securing and implementing long-term solid waste agreements with the City of New York...Read more

Dr. Vörösmarty's research centers on human-environment interactions. He has led several teams that have executed interdisciplinary studies using earth system models depicting the Northeastern U.S., developed and analyzed databases of reservoir construction worldwide and how they generate downstream coastal zone risks, and assessed global threats to human water security and aquatic biodiversity. In addition to his dedication to mentoring CUNY students, Dr. Vörösmarty routinely provides scientific guidance to a variety of U.S. and international water consortia. He is a founding member...Read more