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NYC issues nearly 2,000 tickets during first week of compost crackdown
By
Liam Quigley
Published Apr 8, 2025
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Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
By
Liam Quigley
Published Apr 8, 2025
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The first week of New York City’s composting crackdown resulted in nearly 2,000 tickets to property owners who allegedly ignored a new mandate to separate organic waste from the rest of their building’s garbage.
The rule has technically been in effect since October, but the sanitation department initially gave only written warnings to landlords it found failed to comply. But on April 1, sanitation supervisors began issuing fines starting at $25 for the violation. They gave 1,885 summonses during the first seven days of enforcement, according to the sanitation department.
“Past administrations talked a big game about composting, but none of them had the guts to get it done,” sanitation department spokesperson Joshua Goodman wrote in a statement. “New Yorkers have been clamoring for years for a curbside composting program that’s normal. No special rules, no off days, no starts and stops.”
Goodman said the enforcement has already prompted more people to compost. City data shows the department collected 2.5 million pounds of compostable material – everything from yard waste to pizza crusts – during the first week of April. That’s up from around 737,000 pounds during the same period last year, though the program hadn’t been fully rolled out to all five boroughs at the time.
The city still has a long way to go to get more people to use curbside composting. Some neighborhoods have been slow to participate, and the residential composting rate has stubbornly hovered around 5%.
By comparison, the sanitation department estimates New York City residents divert roughly 44% of their recyclable material from the trash. City data shows the department issues roughly 1,000 tickets per week for failing to recycle.
Goodman said the composting program is designed to be easy to use, and noted the agency has received more than 40,000 orders for composting bins since early March.
Mayor Eric Adams told reporters Tuesday that the fines are not about making money for the city but about getting more people to compost.
“We don’t want to just hit people with fines to encourage them, we want people to buy into the program and make sure that it’s done correctly,” Adams said.
The mandate for universal composting comes after the city rolled out curbside organic waste collection to every resident. Under previous mayors, the sanitation department only offered the service in specific neighborhoods.
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new york city
Politics
sanitation
Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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