The Department conducted the 2017 NYC Residential, School, and NYCHA (NYC Housing Authority) Waste Characterization Study over three seasons: spring, summer, and fall. This study builds on decades of research and analysis into the evolving composition of NYC's waste stream. The study team hand sorted samples into 70 main sort categories. Results are presented in absolute terms as the quantity by weight of each material type. The quantity of each material is calculated by applying the percent composition to the total quantity of DSNY collections for fiscal year 2017 (July 2016-June 2017).

The Department conducted the 2017 NYC Residential, School, and NYCHA (NYC Housing Authority) Waste Characterization Study over three seasons: spring, summer, and fall. This study builds on decades of research and analysis into the evolving composition of NYC's waste stream. The study team hand sorted samples into 70 main sort categories. Sub-sorting of an additional 172 categories was conducted to get a more detailed understanding of the wide variety of plastic products in the waste stream, as well as a sub-set of Paper products. Results are presented in absolute terms as the quantity by weight of each material type. The quantity of each material is calculated by applying the percent composition to the total quantity of DSNY collections for fiscal year 2017 (July 2016-June 2017).

The NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) conducted the 2023 Waste Characterization Study in the Fall of 2022 and Spring of 2023. The 2023 Study determined the waste composition of several major sources from which DSNY collects: residential households, New York City Public Schools, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), and on-street litter baskets. Waste from these generators was categorized into 96 main material categories, which are provided in this dataset by residential strata and time period. Results are presented in absolute terms as the quantity by weight of each material type, per stream. The quantity of each material is calculated by applying the percent composition to the total quantity of specified DSNY collections.

The NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) conducted the 2023 Waste Characterization Study in the Fall of 2022 and Spring of 2023. The 2023 Study determined the waste composition of several major sources from which DSNY collects: residential households, New York City Public Schools, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), and on-street litter baskets. Waste from these generators was categorized into 96 main material categories. In addition to the 96 sort categories, certain material groups were further subsorted into 826 subsort categories which are provided in this dataset by residential strata and time period. Because not all the main material categories were subsorted, there are two separate datasets — one for the main sort results and one for the subsort results. Results for both datasets are presented in absolute terms as the quantity by weight of each material type, per stream. The quantity of each material is calculated by applying the percent composition to the total quantity of specified DSNY collections.

The NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has conducted four waste characterization studies to date: 2005, 2013, 2017, and 2023. For each study, a representative sample of waste is sorted into distinct material categories and aggregated into statistically significant data on the composition of the City's discards. This dataset contains the change in the composition of the City's waste streams across all four studies.

The NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has conducted four waste characterization studies to date: 2005, 2013, 2017, and 2023. This dataset contains the main categories used in all four studies as well as the comparative categories used to consolidate material types over time.