Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYC is finally doing universal compost collection. Now where will they put it?
By
Sophia Chang
Published Mar 19, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Audrey Carleton / Gothamist
By
Sophia Chang
Published Mar 19, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Jessica Tisch, New York City's sanitation chief, hopes to keep billions of pounds of organic waste from ending up in landfills. But she needs to figure out where to put it all.
The sanitation department plans to provide every New Yorker with the option to voluntarily participate in curbside compost collection over the next two years, starting in Queens on March 27.
New Yorkers generate about 8 million pounds of organic waste daily, according to the sanitation department, most of which ends up in landfills producing the greenhouse gas methane.
New York City’s composting program has languished for years due to a lack of funding, and only a handful of neighborhoods now have curbside composting service. But sanitation officials are hopeful that the citywide expansion will bring higher participation rates. A pilot expansion across all of Queens last fall collected more than 12.7 million pounds of organic waste in three months, compared to 2.1 million pounds collected in the seven districts with existing composting collection service.
The city currently sends large amounts of yard waste to a New Jersey compost facility. The remaining organic waste is turned into slurry and sent to the Pine Island Farm in Massachusetts or the wastewater treatment plant at Newtown Creek in Greenpoint, where some of it is converted into biogas.
Manhattan is the last borough to receive the expanded composting collection service, with an expected launch date in October 2024. That’s by design, Tisch said at a City Council hearing on Wednesday. The sanitation department needs time to find more processing facilities for the organic waste instead of sending “all of Manhattan’s organics to the northern part of Brooklyn.”
“It just unfairly puts too many trucks there” at Newtown Creek, Tisch said. Her agency has 19 months to find “the appropriate plan for what we're going to do and how we are going to process Manhattan’s organic material.”
Sanitation plans to issue a request for proposals this summer to expand its processing capacities.
The city expects to spend $45 million this fiscal year for new compost collection trucks to expand the curbside compost program, including 90 trucks that Tisch said will be delivered in time for the program’s launch in Brooklyn this fall.
Tisch said she hopes the citywide expansion means New Yorkers will eventually compost at least half of their organic waste instead of sending that garbage to fester in landfills. She acknowledged that goal was “ambitious” and years in the making.
“This is what the city is going to be doing now for generations to come, which is why it's so exciting,” Tisch said.
Tagged
biogas
compost
landfills
sanitation
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Bronx community hosts vigil for boy killed in e-bike fire
Zion Maine died Wednesday after a lithium-ion battery ignited, killing him and injuring four members of his family.
By
Carol Chen
Published Oct 29, 2026 at 9:22 p.m. ET
8 people charged in $7M SNAP benefit fraud scheme
The scam impacted thousands of people, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
By
Giulia Heyward
News
8 people charged in $7M SNAP benefit fraud scheme
The scam impacted thousands of people, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
By
Giulia Heyward
California man was shot by a NJ detective in Moonachie, officials say
By
Kaya Laterman
The NYPD is confiscating e-bikes along a clogged East Village street
By
Willow Higgins
New Yorkers enrolled in SNAP will get more money for fresh produce next year
By
Giulia Heyward
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .