Testimony of Eve Hamilton, Sierra Club DC Chapter Zero Waste Committee
Committee on Public Works and Operations Budget Oversight Hearing
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Introduction
Councilmember Nadeau, thank you for the opportunity to testify at this Committee on Public Works and Operations Budget Oversight Hearing on the Department of Public Works (DPW). My name is Eve Hamilton, and I am an active member of the Sierra Club District of Columbia Chapter’s Zero Waste Committee. The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In DC, we represent about 7,000 residents across all eight wards.
ZERO WASTE
Allocations for composting services should be doubled and clarifications provided on the Mayor’s Proposed Fiscal Year 2026 Budget and Financial Plan (Mayor’s Proposed FY26 Budget)
We are delighted to see that the DPW Chapter of the Mayor’s Proposed FY26 Budget, p.8, explains that a “one-time increase of $2,269,385 and 11.0 FTEs . . . is included to support the expansion of residential food waste collections, which currently serves approximately 12,000 households.” While we are pleased to see the curbside composting program expanding to more households, we would appreciate greater clarity on the scale of this growth. DPW has stated there are currently 9,000 households in the curbside compost program at a cost of approximately $3 million, as funded in the FY25 budget. Under the Mayor’s proposed allocation for FY26, how many households will be able to participate? And is DPW confident it can serve more households with fewer resources than it currently has?
Additionally, the DC Chapter supports doubling the number of households participating in the curbside compost program. Is there a reason the program cannot be doubled to 18,000 households? We estimate, based on the Mayor’s proposed budget allocation and current funding of about $3 million for 9,000 households, that doubling the program would cost between $4.5 and $6 million. Doubling the Mayor’s proposed allocation, or $4.5 million, is less than one-half of one percent of the Mayor’s proposed subsidies for the RFK stadium deal. Shouldn’t we invest more in achieving our zero waste and climate goals, than subsidizing the billionaire owner of the Commanders?
We have not found any specific reference in the budget documents to determine whether the Mayor’s Proposed FY26 Budget provides funding to continue the staffed weekend compost drop off events (mainly at farmers markets), as well as funding to continue or expand the highly popular “smart” compost drop off bin program, which currently includes 32 smart bins across all Wards. DPW assured us at the DC Environmental Network June Breakfast meeting that today’s hearing would clarify whether there is funding to continue the weekend and smart compost bin drop off programs, and whether there will be funding to expand the smart bin program. The FY26 DPW budget, which has increased by 6.7% in Local Funds and Special Purpose Revenue Funds since FY25, should also include funding to continue and expand these services. We ask that this hearing clarify the funding allocated for these key services. If no allocations have been made, we request this Committee to ensure that the drop off program not only continues, but grows. Again, the amount required to fund these services is a tiny fraction of the subsidies proposed for the RFK Stadium development but delivers on our zero waste and climate goals.
Bringing compost collection services in-house may be less costly over time than procuring third-party contractors to provide collection, hauling and processing services. Bringing these services in-house would ensure the work is done by union labor. At a roundtable you convened last year, Councilmember Nadeau, DPW spoke about the need to transition these services in-house, including making capital investments to acquire trucks." Does the Mayor’s Proposed FY26 Budget include any such transitional funding? If and when DPW invests in new trucks, we urge the Department to use this as an opportunity to meet its fleet electrification goals.
Has the District issued a new recycling contract?
The Office of Contract and Procurement Transparency website indicates that the District recycling contract solicitation has closed. However, there is no information on which entity, if any, was awarded this contract. We would appreciate it if this hearing could provide an update on whether a new contractor has been selected to provide the District’s recycling services, and if so, who? We would also welcome publication of the contract. If no contract has been awarded, we would also welcome a briefing on why the award has been delayed.
It’s long overdue to allocate funding for a save-as-you-throw pilot
The Zero Waste Omnibus Amendment Act of 2020 called for a variable rate pilot study, also known as a save-as-you-throw pilot, by January 2022. Action Four of the Zero Waste DC Plan calls for this pilot to take place between 2023 and 2028. No funding has ever been allocated for this statutorily-required pilot, and there appears to be no specific mention of funding for such a pilot in the Mayor’s Proposed FY26 Budget. When can we expect this long-called-for pilot to be funded and implemented? Variable rates lead to higher waste diversion results and less spending on trash collection and hauling services. We need to test policies that will cut District costs on trash collection and hauling in ways that address equity concerns.
Which parts of the Zero Waste DC Plan will be funded in the FY26 budget?
More than half of the Zero Waste DC Plan’s 43 actions are designated as short term, meaning they should be implemented between 2023 and 2028. Some, such as Action 11 (single-use plastic phase-out) and Action 14 (recycling and composting citywide) are to be completed by 2025. These actions respectively call for development of a policy and an ordinance. Has DPW begun any work on implementing these two actions? Does DPW require funding for their implementation? If so, does the Mayor’s Proposed FY26 budget provide necessary funding? Since an additional 27 actions are to be implemented in the 2023-2028 timeline, we would appreciate it if DPW would clarify if any additional parts of the Zero Waste DC Plan are to be funded in the FY26 budget.
Many of the questions and issues raised in this testimony could be answered if the Office of Waste Diversion held regular, quarterly stakeholders meetings. Despite several requests, no briefing has been held this year. We also call for the Benning Road Advisory Team to increase participation from environmental stakeholders. Currently, environmental stakeholders have only one member on the Advisory Team, and the group has only met once. When will environmental stakeholders and members of the public be able to comment on the development of the Benning Road trash transfer station as a zero waste campus?
Finally, Councilmember Nadeau, thank you again for introducing the District Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Act of 2025. We wanted to take the opportunity of this hearing to reiterate that this legislation, known as the bottle bill, will save the District on its recycling hauling and tipping fees and will present no burden on the District budget.
CLEAN TRANSPORTATION
DPW should prioritize removing dangerous cars from our street
According to the Vision Zero 2022 Update, multiple agencies, including DPW, share responsibility for ensuring street safety, and DPW plays a pivotal role in enforcing parking violations.
A significant concern remains the presence of repeat offenders—drivers with a history of dangerous behavior, often identified through parking violations. The D.C. Auditor’s second report on Vision Zero, released last June, found that DPW had not been targeting these repeat dangerous drivers through its booting and towing programs, which are key tools for addressing unsafe vehicles on the road.
We were encouraged by the launch of DPW’s High-Dollar Scofflaw Pilot last year, which aimed to remove dangerous vehicles with high unpaid fines from our streets, and we’re pleased to see it expanding.
So far this year, there have been 7 traffic fatalities, a significant decrease compared to 24 during the same period in 2024, which tied with 2023 as the deadliest year for traffic fatalities in the District in 17 years.
The DC Council has a critical opportunity to help continue this downward trend in fatalities by investing in further progress. We, therefore, urge the DC Council and Mayor Bowser to ensure full funding for Councilmember Nadeau’s Fraudulent Vehicle Tag and Parking Enforcement Modernization Amendment Act and Councilmember Allen’s Strengthening Traffic Enforcement, Education, and Responsibility Amendment Act (STEER Act). The Parking Enforcement Act builds on the STEER Act and enhances DPW's ability to identify and remove unsafe vehicles from the road by prioritizing the booting and towing of abandoned, unidentifiable, or dangerous vehicles with traffic safety infractions.
Both laws involve the authorities of DPW, District Department of Transportation (DDOT), Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Office of Attorney General (OAG), demonstrating the multi-agency approach and departmental coordination that is required to enforce our laws and help restore the social contract when it comes to making our streets safer for all.
DPW should not delay electrification of the District’s fleet
The proposed Budget Support Act delays the requirement that the District only purchase or lease zero-emission vehicles from 2026 to 2027, a delay with minimal budgetary impact compared to the climate and air quality impacts of replacing pollutant-emitting District-owned vehicles sooner.
DC was designated with non-attainment status under the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone, the primary component of smog. The American Lung Association recently gave DC an “F” grade for high ozone days and the 24-hour standard for particle pollution. Fortunately, there are currently over 100 electric vehicle models commercially available in the U.S., with decreasing upfront costs and greater lifetime savings compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. We urge the Council to remove this delay from the Budget Support Act and ensure compliance with the District’s vehicle procurement plan to clean our air and meet our climate goals.
Given the proposed one year delay to only purchase or lease zero-emission vehicles, the mayor’s proposed budget for fleet vehicle procurement over the next six years raises particular concerns. Compared to the 6-year capital budget passed last year, spending has been roughly doubled for FY26 but cut roughly in half for subsequent years. We fear this could indicate an attempt to frontload purchases of non-electric vehicles over the next year. To ensure accountability we would like to know how much of the proposed budget is currently planned for procurement of EVs in FY26 and how many will be procured through FY31.
We also urge DPW to release a comprehensive plan outlining annual benchmarks for transitioning its fleet of over 3,000 vehicles to zero-emission models by 2045. Additionally, with $320,000 budgeted through FY27 for the installation of EV charging stations, we request details on how many chargers will be installed in this period.
Thank you Councilmember Nadeau for convening this performance oversight hearing and for the opportunity to testify.