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Waste Not: Bloomberg Wants NYers To Compost Food Scraps
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 14, 2013
Modified Feb 14, 2013
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 14, 2013
Modified Feb 14, 2013
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Composting (Tien Mao/Gothamist)
During his final State of the City address, Mayor Bloomberg touted a very green idea: Composting!
Yes, besides banning styrofoam, the mayor said, "As we recycle more plastics, we’ll also tackle New York City’s final recycling frontier: food waste. We bury 1.2 million tons of food waste in landfills every year at a cost of nearly $80 per ton. That waste can be used as fertilizer or converted to energy at a much lower price. That’s good for the environment and for taxpayers. This spring, we’ll launch a pilot program to collect curbside organic waste from single family homes in Staten Island, for composting. If it succeeds, we’ll develop a plan to take it citywide."
San Francisco and Seattle has composting programs but Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro was doubtful NY's attempt would succeed, telling the Post, "I think most people are not going to like it." He imagined the containers would go missing, "The DS (Department of Sanitation) truck comes, takes off the cover and dumps the garbage. That's the end of the pail and the end of the cover."
However, a Bloomberg administration official said that "rigid containers with locked tops" would be distributed and that it would be "foolproof."
Also, you can compost in your apartment—here's how.
Tagged
compost
composting
food waste
recycling
staten island
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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