Zero-Waste advocates at a District of Columbia Council hearing on waste management in DC.
We want new leadership at the DC Department of Public Works!
Yesterday, DC environmental organizations sent a letter to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser on mismanagement and lack of vision and leadership at the DC Department of Public Works (DPW).
The Anacostia Watershed Society, Audubon Naturalist Society, DC Environmental Network, Energy Justice Network, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Potomac Riverkeeper Network, Rock Creek Conservancy, Sierra Club (DC Chapter), Surfrider Foundation (DC Chapter), Washington Parks & People, and Wentworth Green Strategies sent a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser focused on the mismanagement and lack of vision and leadership at the DC Department of Public Works (DPW).


The purpose of this letter is to outline our profoundly serious concerns regarding the leadership at DPW, and their lack of effort to responsibly address waste reduction, recycling, and composting in the District.

  • DPW leadership recently fired the only staff person with credible experience with zero-waste policies and programs.
  • DPW leadership undermined the District's own Sustainable DC plan's commitment to diverting at least 80% of the District’s waste away from landfills and incinerators (waste-to-energy) by 2032.
  • DPW leadership failed to fulfill a promise and pilot a proven waste management system called Save-As-You-Throw that could save District taxpayers millions.
  • DPW leadership continues to undercharge private waste haulers losing millions of taxpayer dollars.
  • DPW leadership continues to embrace incineration, the most expensive and polluting way to manage waste.

We also share in the letter how the District can still accomplish the goals laid out in the Sustainable DC 2.0 plan but need to act now.

Several additional organizations want to sign-on to this letter. We will be updating it next week and resend it to Mayor Bowser. Let us know if your organization wants to join us.

Get briefed on DPW at our next DCEN event!

On September 22nd at Noon, you can learn more about DPW mismanagement by joining the DC Environmental Network, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a noted local reporter, and zero-waste management experts, for a briefing on how the District's Department of Public Works can save millions of dollars by reforming currently failing and costly waste management practices.