Last spring the New York City Council and Mayor De Blasio passed sweeping changes to the NYC Air Pollution Control Code. This code had not been substantially revised in 43 years! Included in these changes are new requirements for emissions control devices for char broilers, wood ovens, and coal ovens. Since the deadline for compliance is quickly approaching we wanted to issue a reminder about this new provision.
Any establishment with commercial char broilers that cooks more than 875 pounds of meat per week must be equipped with an emissions control device (NYC AC 24-149.4). Any wood fired or coal fired cooking appliance must be similarly equipped with an emissions control device (NYC AC 24-149.5).
These changes are effective May 6, 2016 for all new installations; existing installations have a grace period for compliance until January 1, 2020.