New Stony Brook waste expert to tackle recycling, other challenges posed by closure of Brookhaven's landfill

One of Michael E. White's prized possessions is a flag commemorating the first Earth Day in 1970.

More than a half-century later, the environmental lawyer has been selected by Stony Brook University to serve as interim director of its Waste Reduction and Management Institute. He is principal investigator overseeing a state-funded study of Long Island's municipal trash and recycling programs. The institute is using a $250,000 grant for the research.

White, 72, of Centerport, has played a key behind-the-scenes role in local trash issues as a lawyer and consultant for West Babylon-based Winters Bros. Waste Systems and as vice chair of the Long Island Regional Planning Council. Winters Bros. was purchased earlier this year by national trash hauling conglomerate WM, formerly Waste Management, Newsday has reported.

Founded in 1985, the waste institute has become a resource for government officials and nonprofits as Long Island grapples with the impending closure of the Brookhaven Town landfill. The landfill will stop accepting construction debris next month and is expected to close completely in 2027 or 2028.

In an interview, White discussed the challenges posed by Long Island's waste crisis, including illegal dumping in the state-protected pine barrens and trucks clogging the Cross Bronx Expressway and other roads while hauling construction and demolition debris off the Island. He also weighed in on what could happen once the landfill closes, highlighting the possibility of higher taxes and construction costs as building contractors and municipalities ship waste hundreds of miles away. 

“Mike has an enormous challenge," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment in Farmingdale. "The trash problem is not going to solve itself and we must put in policies to address it ... We really need Mike to work on waste reduction, increase recycling and how we’re going to dispose of construction and demolition debris.”

Suffolk County Legis. Steven Englebright (D-Setauket) said localities must step up efforts to reduce and recycle trash.

"We don’t know where our waste is going to go," said Englebright, a former state assemblyman who chaired the chamber's environmental conservation committee. ”The stakes are huge locally as well as internationally.”

Newsday interviewed White on Monday at the Winters Bros. headquarters in West Babylon. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What drew you to the position at Stony Brook?

I started out as a research scientist, and I’ve always been the kind of person that said, "well, doing this research, let’s bring it somewhere so it can be utilized," and that’s the way I see the opportunity with the institute. We’re going to have research; we’re going to have connectivity with the industry, with the government, with stakeholders [and] with the environmental community. So we’re not just going to study something. We’re going to fashion it so we can use it and carry it forward.

Now that the landfill is starting to close, what are the challenges facing Long Island?

One of the focus areas is transportation of waste off of Long Island ... But I think what we don’t want to see [is] construction and demolition debris going off on trucks and getting stuck on the Cross Bronx Expressway. I think we really want to foster that railroad option. I think between the government decision-makers and private industry, we’ll find our solutions along the way.

Recycling has been a stubborn problem. What can we do better?

For most of our citizenry, it’s "garbage goes away." They put it out to the curb, and it goes away. And what we talk about is, where is "away?" ... And if we don’t have to keep moving it away farther, we can recycle it.

We need better markets [for recyclables]. If we have better markets, there’s going to be more interest in recycling more, and better economics with respect to those commodities.”

Are local governments and private industry doing enough to promote recycling?

“I think they can do more, but I think it’s also up to the people to get away from this [assumption that] it just goes away," White said. He referred to benches that can be made from recycled, plastic film. "That’s perfect, but that’s the kind of thing that people need to relate to — ‘If I recycle this, it’s not going in the trash and it can become a re-use.’ That’s, I think, the place where we have to connect people to get great participation.”

What are the stakes if we don’t solve our waste problem?

“On the worst side of it, we’re going to be dumping in the pine barrens," White said, referring to the 105,000-acre area of state-protected forest in Suffolk County. "We don’t want to see that, and I think there’s a lot of initiatives to prevent that from happening. But I think the other issue is that we’re going to see much, much higher costs, and we’re going to see the loss of the balance between providing some environmental and cost-efficient results versus putting everything on a truck and driving it someplace west. That’s just not going to work.”

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.