"For the first time, we were able to provide fuel for water supplies and sanitation, and solid-waste disposal," said Mr. Toole.
Other groups that monitor waste disposal figures say the trends are not yet so clear or positive -- the specter of shrink-wrap and over-packaging persists, they say, because consumers have yet to demand change.
Everyone wants lower waste disposal costs," said George R. Oliver, vice president of GE Infrastructure Water Technologies.
And in a paradoxical way, city officials, environmentalists and waste disposal experts say, the rebound has come about through the same forces that threatened recycling in the first place: government budget troubles.
"That's a basic introduction to German waste disposal," Ziemann said, adding that it wasn't yet necessary to explain the much more complex German system of recycling.
Because PBDEs are not considered hazardous waste, there is no mandate that they be deposited in hazardous waste landfills, giving the state's Department of Toxic Substances Control no oversight of their disposal, says Russ Edmondson, a spokesman for the department.
Wrapping the uranium fuel in graphite greatly increases the volume of radioactive waste eventually requiring disposal, said Heinz Smital, a Greenpeace nuclear technology specialist in Germany.
"Here is proof positive that recycling is cost-competitive with other waste disposal methods, to say nothing of cutting the city's contribution to global warming," said Eric A. Goldstein, a senior lawyer at the environmental group.
The plan focuses on "containment measures to control potential releases of contaminants, proper procedures for monitoring the work and waste disposal," the agency said.
"My view on this is that the environmental community has a responsibility to work with the city to put in place the most environmentally friendly and yet economically sustainable solid waste disposal system," she said.
