The administrative making of the recycler

The New York Department of Sanitation's recycling program is under threat by an “an organized, sophisticated mob of scavenger collectives.” How is this “mob” threatening the NYC Department of Sanitation? They are removing scrap metals before the city can collect it. We use this event as an entry into exploring the practice of recycling in relation to administrative constructs through the lens of deliberative policy analysis (DPA). We discuss how the identity of “the recycler” derives from administrative conduct and concern. In the interest of fulfilling the goals of “recycling,” administration influences the collective understanding of who is a recycler and how the related practice of recycling is understood in the management of waste. We use the case to distinguish between the idea of social construction and that of administrative construction by highlighting the production of an identity (the recycler) through administrative practices that define an activity (recycling). Doing so highlights the conflicting concerns in key pillars of DPA, particularly how the interpretive power of administration to define and determine practice can restrict deliberative potential.