North Brooklyn Parks Alliance hosted a summit Tuesday night in Williamsburg bringing together city officials, nightlife leaders, and environmental advocates to tackle the growing waste problem at New York City events.
The “Ready [or Not] Recycle! – An Evening on the Future of Low Waste Events in NYC” event at Vesper comes as public spaces face increasing pressure from large-scale programming, from concerts to global events like the upcoming FIFA World Cup and the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.
“If we’re not careful, our greatest civic assets, our public spaces, risk being over-used and under-supported,” said Katie Denny Horowitz, NBK Parks executive director. “Waste isn’t just an operational issue, it’s a systems issue. It’s about how public spaces are designed, who is responsible for what happens within them, and what infrastructure exists to support them.”
The summit highlighted NBK Parks’ own sustainability work at Under the K Bridge Park in Greenpoint, where the organization has piloted initiatives that now divert nearly 50 percent of event waste from landfills. The programming at Under the K serves dual purposes — generating revenue to maintain parks across North Brooklyn while setting standards for responsible event production.
Panelists from across the city’s parks, nightlife, and waste management sectors emphasized how an updated state Bottle Bill could transform large-scale event sustainability. The New York State legislature is currently considering updates to the landmark 1982 law that would expand recyclable materials and double rebate rates from five to 10 cents.
Ryan Castalia of Sure We Can, Michael Cyr of Borowide, Peter Mercury of House of Yes, Clare Newman of The Trust for Governors Island, Carol Smolenski of Beyond Plastics, and Lynn del Sol of NBK Parks participated in the panel discussion.
A fireside chat featured Rafael Espinal, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment, and Michelle Kaufman, development and partnerships manager at the Sanitation Foundation.
“We must create community alliances where this work of sustainable waste management is part of our society – where it becomes part of how we interact with each other,” Kaufman said, pointing to the Sanitation Foundation’s Trash Academy and Adopt Your Spot programs as models.
Espinal agreed that building sustainable waste management requires both systematic and grassroots approaches. “The future is bright – but it’s up to us,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to do, but we’re taking the right steps to get there.”
The conversation underscored how sustainability must be integrated into the policies, infrastructure, and systems supporting events as New York City continues relying on public spaces to host programming at increasing scale.
NBK Parks, founded in 2003 and formerly known as Open Space Alliance, is New York City’s only district-wide parks conservancy serving all parks and open spaces in Brooklyn Community Board 1, which covers Greenpoint and Williamsburg.
Featured image: Bushwick Daily archive
