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Officials say no dead animals, pet poop allowed in compost as bins roll out across NYC
By
Sophia Chang
Published Sep 3, 2023
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Lindsey Nicholson via Getty Images
By
Sophia Chang
Published Sep 3, 2023
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In New York City, residents can put meat scraps and bones into compost bins, but not their dead pets. They can compost used paper plates, but not kitty litter.
The sanitation department is reminding New Yorkers of these kinds of limits as officials roll out free composting to the entire city.
“Our program and our processing facilities are designed for residential food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard trimmings, and not intended for materials that fall outside of these categories, including animal waste and dead pets or street animals,” said Vincent Gragnani, a spokesperson for the department.
So dirty diapers, soiled cat litter, used doggy bags, and dead rats and pigeons still go in regular trash, not the city’s brown compost bins.
Sanitation officials said they want to keep germs spread by feces and carcasses out of the city’s compost. Gragnani said the policy makes processing compost “safer for all involved under the current guidelines.”
The city does allow bones from meat and fish scraps to be put in compost bins.
But dead pets and animals aren’t allowed. A long-standing city policy directs New Yorkers to place their late furry friends in labeled plastic bags for regular trash pickup.
The collected organic waste is ground down by heavy machinery at the city’s composting facilities on Staten Island and the anaerobic digesters at Newtown Creek. The processed waste is then placed outside in massive piles to aerate for several months, turning into a form of nutrient-rich soil additive. The decaying process naturally generates enough heat to kill off diseases, Gragnani said.
“Sustained heat over a period of time generally kills these pathogens, and that heat is generated internally by the composting process,” he said.
The citywide program aims to capture the roughly 8 million pounds of organic waste that New Yorkers throw out every day, which turns into harmful greenhouse gases if left languishing in landfills.
Aside from the fecal matter and dead animals, the city will compost all types of organics: “This includes meat, bones [from food scraps], dairy, prepared foods, and greasy uncoated paper plates and pizza boxes,” according to the sanitation department’s website.
Queens residents have had to abide by the requirements since last year, when curbside compost collection was rolled out to the entire borough. The program is scheduled to expand to all of Brooklyn in October, and the compost bins will come to all Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island residences next year.
And more composting reforms are on the horizon: a mandatory citywide yard waste compost requirement started in Queens in March, and the City Council has passed a bill that would require New Yorkers to compost all their food scraps as well.
Tagged
new york city
sanitation
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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