Szarpanski Gets Sanit's Waste Management Job

Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty April 4 appointed Harry Szarpanski as the new Deputy Commissioner for the Bureau of Long Term Export.

HARRY SZARPANSKI: Sanit's long-term guy.

The move elevates the bureau's status in the department, which underscores its central role in developing and implementing the city's comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP).

Moves Up a Rung

Before his appointment, Mr. Szarpanski worked as the Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Long Term Export.

"His vast knowledge of the SWMP and its importance to future generations of New York City residents will ensure the Department's quality of service in developing an effective and environmentally sound rail-to-barge-based infrastructure for Sanitation-managed waste transport and disposal," Commissioner Doherty said in a statement.

The SWMP was adopted by the City Council and approved by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in 2006.

Mr. Szarpanski will now be leading the Department of Sanitation's team in negotiating 20-year contracts - which are valued at over $6 billion - for the transport and disposal of city-managed waste. He will also be responsible for overseeing the design, obtaining the required permits and the construction of the new Marine Transfer Stations to facilitate export of waste by barge and rail.

Deputy Commissioner Szarpanski, who joined the Department of Sanitation in 1970, is a New York State licensed professional engineer, the DSNY said. He is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, and earned a Bachelor's of Science and Master's in Engineering from City College School of Engineering in Manhattan.