America’s largest city is launching an equally large organic waste composting program, which will turn food and plant waste from 2.2 million residents into soil for city parks and community gardens, and an energy source called biogas. The project in Queens is the first time an entire borough will automatically receive the service, no signup required. Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch calls the potential content of these bins the city’s “largest untapped opportunity for [diverting waste]” from the landfill.
According to Tisch, of the 24m pounds of trash and recycling collected from New York City residences each day, organic waste accounts for one third. And she estimates that less than 1% of that organic waste escapes the landfill. Earlier this week, department of sanitation (DSNY) trucks started rolling through Queens to empty hundreds of thousands of new brown bins of their (sometimes smelly) contents. Barbara Alafogianis, a longtime Astoria resident and landlord of a two-family building there, thinks the program is “long overdue”. She began composting a few years ago, when she first noticed drop-off bins in her neighborhood. “I just think it’s wonderful to be able to get rid of that in a way that doesn’t add to our landfill,” she says.
Currently, optional curbside composting is available only in a handful of community boards in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx – and the addition of new neighborhoods has been paused “until further notice”, according to the city’s webpage on the service. “We are working with the city’s new administration to evaluate the program and determine the best service model to help New Yorkers divert food waste from landfills,” a page on the city’s website reads. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected last year, initially campaigned on citywide composting but then halted its expansion, saying not enough people participated to justify the expense. But conditions seemed to be just right in Queens. For one thing, residents in parts of western Queens like Astoria pushed hard for an organic waste program.