NYC’s expansive curbside composting kicks off Monday

Giulia Heyward

Published Mar 26, 2023

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New Department of Sanitation food scraps and yard waste collection bins on sidewalks outside businesses in Queens.

Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Giulia Heyward

Published Mar 26, 2023

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Every resident in New York City will soon have access to curbside composting.

The ambitious program — poised to become the nation’s largest — begins on Monday in Queens, before infiltrating the remaining four boroughs by the end of next year. It’s also the latest development in the mayor’s longtime obsession with curbing the presence of rats in the city.

“By reducing the food waste that we put into trash bags, our streets will look better, smell better, and best of all, will be dealing a blow to New York City’s number one enemy: rats,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference announcing the program’s expansion last month.

For decades, only a fraction of New Yorkers could access the poorly funded composting program despite the city’s ability to generate nearly 8 million pounds of organic waste each day. The Adams administration is funneling $45 million into the sanitation department to beef up the city’s access to compost. A pilot program began in Queens in October 2022 with astounding results: within three months, the city collected 12.7 million pounds of organic waste in that borough.

After the service restarts in Queens on Monday, it’ll expand to Brooklyn on Oct. 2. By March 2024, the composting program will reach Staten Island and the Bronx before finally being available to homes in Manhattan on Oct. 7, 2024.

And as the service expands to each borough, residents won’t be required to sign-up, either. The appropriate food scraps and yard waste can be placed in a bin outside one’s home, where it will be collected. The Adams administration is also installing compost bins across the city, where waste can also be discarded.

“Curbside collection of organics is integral to achieving zero waste by 2030, as food waste comprises one third of the overall waste generated by New Yorkers,” Manhattan Councilmember Gale Brewer said in a press release. “It reduces the population of rats and other pests by sorting food waste into its own secure container. I love my little brown bin, I put it out every Friday night.”

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new york city

queens

Politics

environment

Giulia Heyward

Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.

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