Update from GrowNYC:
As you may know, GrowNYC received temporary financial support from an anonymous donor allowing us to continue our food scrap collection program beyond this month’s scheduled closure dates. This will allow us to continue important work as we advocate for the restoration of the program in FY25 city budget.Our partners in the NYC Compost Project (Big Reuse, Earth Matter, LES Ecology Center) announced a new philanthropic campaign led by our friends at Mill to support community composting programs impacted by the city’s budget cuts.
$350k in funding has been provided by Mill and other donors. Learn more about how to get involved in this effort at mill.com/nyc or reach out to nyccompost@mill.com!
Why it matters: For decades, the local New York composting community has been hard at work keeping wasted food out of the landfill, supporting our gardens, trees and parks and helping the planet! GrowNYC and others rely on these essential partner sites to process the scraps collected at our collection sites.
We celebrate this temporary reprieve but we want to make it clear: our collective effort to preserve community composting continues until city funding is restored for all community composting initiatives!
Signatures are still needed on the petition at https://www.grownyc.org/blog/save-community-composting.
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In Brooklyn and in Queens, the Sanitation Department's curbside composting program now includes mandatory separation of leaf and yard waste from other trash:
Leaf and yard waste separation from trash is now mandatory. Beginning October 2 [2023] in Brooklyn, there is a 3-month warning period before residents are subject to fines.
In addition to that,
Separation of food waste and food-soiled paper from trash is now mandatory. The warning period for Brooklyn (and all boroughs as service expands) runs through Spring 2025. Starting Spring 2025, ALL NYC residents will be subject to fines.
If the fines by the city are severe, it's possible that every owner of every building in every borough will comply with the law.
But the fine for not separating compostable matter won't go into effect for another year-and-a-half. And that's a major reason for GrowNYC's petition to halt the elimination of community composting.
From the East Fourth Street Community Garden:
If the City does not restore funding for community composting, the East Fourth Street Community Garden won’t be able to offer food scrap collection via Big Reuse next spring. Please sign the petition, if you compost at the garden!
From Big Reuse:
We need your help! Sign our petition to tell the Mayor and city council that we need community composting in NYC! Go to https://www.grownyc.org/blog/save-community-composting to sign.
The city’s harsh budget cuts eliminate the entire NYC Compost Project, including programs at Big Reuse, the LES Ecology Center, Earth Matter NY, GrowNYC, and the four botanical gardens [including Brooklyn Botanic Garden].
These projects divert 8.3 million pounds of organic waste from the landfill every year!
Together we produce and distribute hundreds of thousands of pounds of compost to community gardens, parks, and the public annually.
We need composting for NY’s sustainability and ecology, spread the word!
To tell New York City's mayor and city
council to continue funding community composting, sign the petition at https://www.grownyc.org/blog/save-community-composting.