Thursday, October 1, 2026
Sea Cliff’s Environmental Conservation Commission, Mayor Elena Villafane, Deputy Mayor Nick Pinto and Village Administrator Bruce Kennedy discussed recycling protocol and awareness at the ECC meeting on July 16, before a gathering of about 15 residents.
Kennedy, who was invited by ECC Chair Fred Black to speak, presented his findings on recycling from a recent meeting with Kevin Nolan, director of operations at Winters Bros. Waste Systems, Michael White, route manager at Waste Management and Waste Management’s public affairs manager, Dan Schaefer. Winters Bros. was acquired by Waste Management in 2024. The companies handle Sea Cliff’s garbage and recycling.
Currently, roughly 18 percent of the village’s waste is recycled. The village board has been working to increase that percentage for years.
“It appears to me that the vast majority of people recycle,” Kennedy said at the meeting. “The question is, are they recapturing everything they can?”
Kennedy explained Sea Cliff’s recycling process. Recycling is collected curbside and from the Department of Public Works. Waste Management transports it to the Glen Cove Transfer Station, and from there it moves on to the Brookhaven Materials Recovery Facility, where glass is removed. The remaining recoverable material, which can be processed and used to manufacture new products, is sold to manufacturing facilities, while glass is repurposed, meaning used as something other than the form it arrived in.
Throughout the presentation, Kennedy offered suggestions on best recycling practices and on how the ECC can help residents recycle properly.
“The system works best when residents recycle correctly,” he said.
Kennedy said that the Brookhaven facility accepts plastics numbered 1 through 7, but not Styrofoam. The numbers on plastic products indicate the type of chemical resins used to make them.
ECC member and former Co-chair Laura Russo and Kennedy had different information on how glass is handled. Russo — who said she had spoken with Schaefer; Zachary Sicardi, a recycling coordination aide at the Town of Brookhaven; Will Flower, vice president of Winters Bros.; and Winter Bros.’ former recycling manager, Kenneth Rothwell — was told that, at certain amounts, glass was not recycled at the Brookhaven MRF. Kennedy said that Waste Management sorts glass out of loads of recycling collected before the rest of the material is processed at the MRF, and that glass can be used for other purposes.
Waste Management representatives confirmed to the Herald on Tuesday that glass is sorted out at the Brookhaven MRF.
Resident Amy Marion questioned why conflicting information was received. “I think a little more research is needed,” she said.
Kennedy suggested that residents bring glass bottles and cans to redemption centers and deposit machines in stores like Stop & Shop that accept bottles and cans in exchange for coins. He added that glass is separated by color at these facilities, and while there is no market for reused brown and green glass, there is for clear glass, which can be used to create new bottles. Brown and green glass, he said, can be repurposed.
“That is the most environmentally sensitive, appropriate way of dealing with bottles and cans,” Kennedy said.
He emphasized that batteries should never be placed in garbage or recycling because they can cause fires in garbage trucks and waste facilities.
Kennedy said that the ECC can help educate residents by updating public guidance and leading a public awareness campaign on reducing waste. He added that he and Black have informational materials from Waste Management that they are working to consolidate.
There was some discussion about whether Sea Cliff should revisit its recycling methods. Villafane said that single-stream recycling, where residents can place all recyclables, including glass, in the same bin, was originally explored, with the reasoning that if the process was easier, residents would recycle more.
Dina Epstein, an ECC member, former ECC Co-Chair and a former deputy mayor, suggested that there is a recycling issue at the state level, and that the state should regulate greater separation of recyclables.
“If we are environmentally motivated,” Epstein said, “there should be different compartments, and every municipality should have different compartments for paper, for plastic, for bottles and for metal.”
The village’s contract it had entered with Winters Bros. before the company was acquired by Waste Management expires in the fall of 2027.
“We’re willing to work on a different method of looking at it as we go into the new contract,” Villafane said. “But what people have to understand is we didn’t design the system. We are working within the system that is currently available to municipalities.”
