New smart compost bins are online at 10 Staten Island locations as part of an overall city plan to clean up city streets and reduce its rat problem, according to a Department of Sanitation spokesman. All of the new smart compost bins will be spread out on the North Shore, one of the nine communities Mayor Eric Adams and Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified as targets for the project earlier this month.
In total, 250 bins have been brought to communities around the city that the sanitation commissioner described as “traditionally underserved.” The bins are accessible 24 hours per day via a newly-designed app for iOS and Android called NYC Compost. The bins are part of Adams’ plan to bring composting citywide — an effort that officials say will make the city greener and limit food availability for the city’s rats, one of the mayor’s top enemies. His ultimate goal is a curbside composting program available to all city residents.