Composting program now in force in NYC. Residents must fill special bins with food scraps, leaves, grass.
New York City residents must now place compost material in a special bin for pick-up by the Sanitation Department. A compost drop-off bin is shown near Madison Square Park in Manhattan last year. Credit: Sipa USA via AP/Cristina Matuozzi
Compost or else.
Failing to separate residential compost waste — including leaves, grass and food scraps — began Tuesday to subject the violator to a fine in New York City.
The compost must be set out in a certain bin on recycling day.
For buildings with one to eight units, the fine is $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second, and $100 for each one thereafter; the fine for buildings with nine or more units is $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second, and $300 for each additional one.
The composting mandate — which also covers yard waste and food-soiled paper — began in October but provided a grace period that ended on Tuesday.
Joshua Goodman, a spokesman for the Sanitation Department, said in an email that sanitation supervisors will be on the lookout.
"This may include opening bags, just as it does for recycling violations (and has for years)," he wrote, adding:
"These are people with a lot of experience, so often they can tell by looking at a trash bag if there’s a good chance it contains food waste. The shape, feel, presence of 'garbage juice' as a starting point."
Composting can help reduce trash, build healthy soil and address climate change, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. By composting, the agency says, "we transform our waste streams into a beneficial, value-added soil amendment and use it to protect the environment and create resilient communities."
No Long Island municipality requires residential composting, according to Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
"It’s nonexistent," she said.
Newsday reported last year that the Town of Riverhead in 2022 launched a municipal-led program for residential food scrap collection. The program operates year-round, while others, such as the Bellport Community Garden and East Hampton Compost in East Hampton and Sag Harbor farmers market locations, are run by volunteers and accept only food scraps for certain months.
In December, the Town of Southold became the second municipality to offer a composting program.
In New York City, the City Council passed a composting law in 2023 requiring that food waste be separated from other trash, in one of the biggest changes to garbage-sorting in the city since the original recycling program began in 1989.
"In that compost bin put anything from your kitchen, anything from your yard, set it out on your recycling day when you set out your metal glass, plastic, and your paper cardboard and we will come and pick it up," then-Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in October on the PIX11 Morning News.
Although the composting program is only for residences, certain private businesses, which rely on private hauling companies, are required under the law to separate organic waste too.
Curbside composting programs have been in place in New York City for the previous decades, but none of them has served more than about 40% of the city, according to the Sanitation Department’s 2023 NYC Waste Characterization Study.
With Maureen Mullarkey
Compost or else.
Failing to separate residential compost waste — including leaves, grass and food scraps — began Tuesday to subject the violator to a fine in New York City.
The compost must be set out in a certain bin on recycling day.
For buildings with one to eight units, the fine is $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second, and $100 for each one thereafter; the fine for buildings with nine or more units is $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second, and $300 for each additional one.
The composting mandate — which also covers yard waste and food-soiled paper — began in October but provided a grace period that ended on Tuesday.
Joshua Goodman, a spokesman for the Sanitation Department, said in an email that sanitation supervisors will be on the lookout.
"This may include opening bags, just as it does for recycling violations (and has for years)," he wrote, adding:
"These are people with a lot of experience, so often they can tell by looking at a trash bag if there’s a good chance it contains food waste. The shape, feel, presence of 'garbage juice' as a starting point."
Composting can help reduce trash, build healthy soil and address climate change, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. By composting, the agency says, "we transform our waste streams into a beneficial, value-added soil amendment and use it to protect the environment and create resilient communities."
No Long Island municipality requires residential composting, according to Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
"It’s nonexistent," she said.
Newsday reported last year that the Town of Riverhead in 2022 launched a municipal-led program for residential food scrap collection. The program operates year-round, while others, such as the Bellport Community Garden and East Hampton Compost in East Hampton and Sag Harbor farmers market locations, are run by volunteers and accept only food scraps for certain months.
In December, the Town of Southold became the second municipality to offer a composting program.
In New York City, the City Council passed a composting law in 2023 requiring that food waste be separated from other trash, in one of the biggest changes to garbage-sorting in the city since the original recycling program began in 1989.
"In that compost bin put anything from your kitchen, anything from your yard, set it out on your recycling day when you set out your metal glass, plastic, and your paper cardboard and we will come and pick it up," then-Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in October on the PIX11 Morning News.
Although the composting program is only for residences, certain private businesses, which rely on private hauling companies, are required under the law to separate organic waste too.
Curbside composting programs have been in place in New York City for the previous decades, but none of them has served more than about 40% of the city, according to the Sanitation Department’s 2023 NYC Waste Characterization Study.
With Maureen Mullarkey
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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