NYC WasteMatch – An online facilitated materials exchange as a tool for pollution prevention

New York City WasteMatch (NYCWM) is an online facilitated materials exchange, funded by the New York City Department of Sanitation and in operation since 1997 that promotes the diversion of reusable materials from the municipal solid waste stream. The exchange consists of an extensive online membership of donors and users and the presence of an active in-house brokering service helping with product placement. Operational data collected by the program between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2013, were used to quantify the values of the indices. The NYCWM diverts an average of 623tons of office furniture, containers and packaging and electronics from terminal disposal every year. The exchanges are typically linear and one-way, with a focus on waste materials. During the study period, of the 1823 listings posted by donors 63% became complete exchanges (products that found users). The presence of a facilitator brokering and managing the exchanges was found to be essential to achieve large tonnage exchanges. Passive exchanges were substantially inferior in numbers and tonnage diverted from active exchanges throughout the study period. The geographic location of donors and users for 466 completed exchanges (42% of the diverted weight) revealed that the mean travel distance was 17.7km ranging from “zero” (donor and user located with the same zip code area) to 80km. Nearly 70% of the completed exchanges (half of the weight) occurred within a distance of 50km. Any distances greater than 50km involved wood pallets that were directed towards recycling by the users. The diversion goal of NYCWM, which focuses on tonnage diverted, strongly affects the quantity and type of resources exchanged, as well as the nature of the exchanges.