New York City’s Reuse Impact Calculator: Quantifying the zero waste impact of materials reuse

In 2015, the city of New York (NYC) introduced a plan to reduce the volume of collected solid waste by 90% by 2030 and envisioned the expansion of reuse opportunities as one of its main drivers. The assessment of the contributions from reuse initiatives to the advancement of waste prevention and waste reduction goals requires a quantitative understanding of the scope of reuse activities. The high population density in NYC and well-organised collection efforts by The City of New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) (DSNY) have resulted in a structure that enables the informal sector to readily contribute and access the reuse market. Importantly, the scale of the operations in NYC enable the results found to be a model for other municipalities of similar size. This article presents the Reuse Impact Calculator, developed from the need to automate and quantify the environmental impact of product reuse by nonprofit enterprises in NYC. Specifically, we will explain the development process, show the novel characteristics of this calculator, describe the software in terms of data input, auto mapping functionality and calculations and present a case study to demonstrate the implementation of the Reuse Impact Calculator. This calculator is a dynamic and easily modifiable tool that converts diverse datasets to comparable conditions and allows the assessment of the impact of reuse organisations to waste prevention in NYC.