By Talia Winiarsky
The Upper West Side, Community District 7, is one of just two districts in Manhattan and seven in all of New York City that is eligible for the Department of Sanitation’s (DSNY) curbside composting service.
Before May 2020, when former Mayor Bill de Blasio paused it “to address budget strains at the start of the coronavirus pandemic,” the service reached over one-third of New York City residents. In 2021, de Blasio announced that it would be brought back to neighborhoods that previously had it, and rolled out further. But, in February 2022, Mayor Eric Adams paused the process of reintroducing the program “for the foreseeable future,” he said, citing budgetary constraints.
Composting was supposed to help the city reach its goal of sending no waste to landfills by 2030. Food scraps, food-soiled paper, and yard waste — all of which comprise compost — add up to a third of the waste New Yorkers throw away, according to the DSNY. That’s a significant amount, since we produce 12,000 tons of waste a day.
Separating organic waste from trash diverts it from landfills, where it is especially harmful. Because organic waste is not exposed to oxygen in landfills, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that warms the Earth with about 30 times more power than carbon dioxide. Composting organic waste greatly reduces or even can eliminate this methane production.
Anyone who lives on the Upper West Side is eligible for the DSNY’s composting program, only now it’s not automatic; buildings must opt in. For those who live in a building with fewer than 10 units, they can visit nyc.gov/curbsidecomposting, or call 311 to sign up for the service. For larger buildings, building management must sign up for residents to participate.
Neighborhood resident Donna Checkan told WSR that, of the 20 households in her building, about 15 want to participate in the curbside composting program. Still, a year and a half after their request, the building’s management company has not agreed.
Agreement alone doesn’t ensure participation. Before the pandemic, just 10 percent of households with the service available to them participated. It is possible that percentage will rise as temperatures do across the nation.
Once signed up, the DSNY provides an odor-resistant brown bin to collect food scraps in, and the city will pick up the scraps to turn them into finished compost. The bins have locks on them to prevent rodents, which are especially prevalent in the neighborhood in the summer, from gaining access.
Residents in buildings without a brown bin who would like to compost can keep a small container in their freezer and drop off their scraps at a GrowNYC collection center. On the Upper West Side, these options include the Tucker Square Greenmarket on Thursdays, 79th Street Greenmarket on Sundays, or 97th Street Greenmarket on Fridays.
Composting is not just about diverting organic waste, but reusing it. It turns the waste into a mulch-like mixture that acts as a plant fertilizer.
Recently, some Upper West Siders received free finished compost for their gardens, courtesy of the nonprofit organization Big Reuse in collaboration with the DSNY.
The giveaway was at the West 104th Street Community Garden. As members of the garden worked, people from the neighborhood came to pick up the 40-pound bags that they would use to bolster their soil’s health.
The large compost sacks are filled with rich, dark dirt that provides benefits to plants that regular soil does not. “Compost suppresses diseases, provides vital aeration to plant roots, and is a source of minerals and nutrients that are essential to plant growth and health,” according to the NYC Compost Project.
Moira, a neighborhood resident who grows a variety of vegetables, picked up a few bags of compost with a friend to use in their garden. She began planting in the beginning of the pandemic. “I love being able to pick the hot peppers and make Thai curries all the way into the fall,” she said.
Composting also limits waste because it makes a person conscious of how much they throw out, Checkan said. “If someone cooks with celery, they may not think about the fact that they are throwing out the tops. Composting can encourage people to use all parts of their produce, perhaps making a soup broth with celery tops that would have otherwise been thrown out,” she said.
Checkan understands that “composting can be a hassle, especially if it requires a walk to a Greenmarket.” But this inconvenience shouldn’t deter people, she said. “If you really care about the Earth, it’s the responsible thing to do.”
Those massive garbage trucks blocking 20 cars idling behind them makes a whole.lot of sense to pick up those tiny bins
Oh, yes, those 20 wonderful cars! — or actually probably 3 or 4 cars, b/c gross exaggeration is necessary when you’re bitching — should never be even momentarily inconvenienced given the wonderful things they bring to the neighborhood! (Remind me what they are…)
They come so early on Saturday morning they don’t hold anybody up!
Our 5-unit building has participated in the compost program since December 2021. There was a bit of a learning curve with the residents (what and how to put in bin), super (who didn’t want what he perceived as more work) and passersby (who dumped random stuff in the compost bin when it was on the curb). We seem to have mostly resolved the above. What remains unresolved is that sanitation frequently (about 25% of the time) does not collect / empty our compost bin even though we put it out on schedule. Sometimes they skip just our building , sometimes ours and a few nearby buildings (while emptying others on the block), and sometimes the entire block. I’ve reported it often, they say they will investigate, and the situation is not improving, instead getting worse (they missed 2 of the last 3 pickups). It’s very frustrating.
We have this problem too. It’s self-defeating, because then the bin is full and you end up throwing compost in the trash at the end of the second week. I call 311, we chalk messages to DSNY on the stairs in front, and eventually they pick it up. I wonder if Adams reduced the department size to try to prove it “doesn’t work” and discontinue it altogether. 🙁
Yay! Did not realize Tucker Square Greenmarket composting was back in business – even if only Thursday 8-11 a.m. It’s so worth planning for. You can just save a couple of those compostable Trader Joe bags and fill them with your coffee grounds, banana peels, etc. Less trash, so satisfying! (And re earlier comment – no trucks stopping traffic. The pickup from the market is well organized.)
Can you share a photo of the Trader Joe bags you’re referring to in this comment please?
It’s hard to get approved because the building has to opt-in. If they shrug at it- as ours did- then the department shrugs right back. That’s the main issue we found.
If residents in your building pressure management/boards to sign up they may comply. Food scraps go to landfills and become methane a terrible greenhouse gas. Composting them helps gardens and parks. Brown bins are designed to deter rats especially if they are locked properly. Freeze food scraps before dumping. It’s easy. Supers love curbside pickup. Keep after sanitation if they miss pickups. It’s a small action to take for our burning planet.
See itseasybeinggreen.org for compost tips.
Our 5-apartment building enthusiastically composts, and we have been frustrated that other buildings on our block have not joined in. I urge everyone to agitate in their buildings, large or small, to overcome managing agents’ resistance and neighbors’ laziness. It is a really constructive way to reduce our carbon footprint and very satisfying.
Sadly, the burdensome process imposed by DiBlasio & Adams administrations require getting people and management on board could doom the program. When DiBlasio halted the organics pick up, bins were flourishing. Bins had simply been given out. Think ‘build it and they will come’. We need to remove the excuses and just give out the brown bins! Residents generally want to participate. It costs literally nothing to do, requires no add’l work, makes handling ordinary trash stream easier and reduces the amount of food on the street for rats to devour nightly.
Our building decided not to participate for fear of attracting rats. I don’t know how substantive this fear is, but perhaps the city could do more outreach to induce buildings to offer the program. We would put our scraps in the compost if it were convenient to do so (not, sorry, if we have to make a big effort).
Cpmposting is easy. And your kitchen and hallways stay cleaner. No more rat-tempting plastic bags with food scraps!
the bins prevents rats. they cannotget into the bins but they can easily bite through plastic garbage bags. this should be a sellingpoiny to convince ourlndlord.
There is also a permanent compost been in riverside park south at about 56th street right in front of the kayak boat house where you can drop off your compostables. There are many others of these permanent bins scattered along the Hudson River greenway.
You can also drop off compost at any Whole Foods any day of the week. They are open for much of day, and have compost pails near the garbage and recycling pails in the seating are. Makes composting very easy.
Why are garbage disposals not mandated in NYC. You get rid of your organic waste without having pollution spewing trucks pick it up and cart it to where ever composting occurs..
The question is not just getting rid of organic waste, but recycling. Disposals are not zero waste – they simply pass that waste into the sewer system… And up until about 25 years ago garbage disposals were illegal in NYC, due to concerns about organic sludge collecting and stressing the the aging sewer system. Now, even though no longer illegal, most older buildings still don’t allow disposals to be installed. (Much of our housing – including large apartment buildings – can be 75-100 years old or more and many NYC buildings don’t allow in-apartment washers; or even dishwashers because the plumbing can’t accommodate them)… see this article: https://www.brickunderground.com/blog/2010/05/are_garbage_disposals_illegal_in_new_york
You don’t have to have all your residents opt in. All you need is your board and your management agency on the same page and the rest will follow. We started it with much reluctance in our building and when Deblasio cut it from the budget, we were devastated. We were very happy to start again And we have two bins for our building so when one is full we start filling the other one. It really solves the odor problem, and the vermin problem in our basement. The Super and the porters love it because it makes the rest of the trash a lot less smelly and disgusting. Every building should be doing it, they would never go back.