New York City has expanded its offerings of free compost made from decomposed food scraps and yard waste to help residents enhance their gardens, yards, and neighborhood tree pits this summer.
Starting every Saturday until September 27, eastern Queens residents can pick up nutrient-rich compost at the corner of Hillside Avenue and Avenue C.
Each household is allowed to take up to 10 bags, with each bag weighing approximately 40 pounds. Registration is required for pick-up, and participants are limited to one request per household.
This new location joins three existing sites known as “Compost Giveback Sites” organized by the city’s Department of Sanitation (DSNY).
In addition to the new site in eastern Queens, the DSNY also operates Giveback Sites in Staten Island’s Freshkills, Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood, and another location in Queens.
Throughout the summer and into the fall, these sites will continue to distribute the same amount of compost, helping to promote gardening and community greening efforts.
Apart from the Giveback Sites, DSNY also hosts pop-up compost events across the city and provides bulk compost deliveries to various non-profit organizations, community gardens, and street tree care volunteer groups.
Information about how to participate in these programs can be accessed online.
The compost distributed by the DSNY is certified by the U.S. Composting Council Seal of Testing Assurance program, ensuring its quality and effectiveness for enhancing soil conditions and promoting healthy plant growth.
The compost is produced at the Staten Island Compost Facility, which has been ramping up its production volume.
According to the DSNY, the facility has been generating approximately 42 million pounds of finished compost annually in recent years, and an upcoming expansion in 2024 will allow it to process around 170 million pounds of incoming material each year.
This expansion boosts the composting capability by nearly 2,000 percent, yet it remains one of only two primary facilities for composting food waste in New York City, with the other facility located in Brooklyn.
Community composting advocates and lawmakers have pushed for the establishment of at least one composting facility in each borough. Historically, a significant portion of the organic waste collected by the DSNY has been converted into fuel, instead of being composted.
The city’s existing processing facilities engage in both composting and anaerobic digestion—a system that extracts biogas, mainly methane, from the digested materials and converts it into energy.
Environmental organizations argue that creating additional smaller facilities focused solely on composting would improve local access to compost and encourage community participation in sustainability practices.
As Nando Rodriguez, the head of the environmental program at Brotherhood Sister Sol (BroSis), stated, “If we have the resources to do something for ourselves, then there’s a positive community reaction. Having local community compost is empowering our community.”
Despite advocacy, last fall the current administration made cuts to the funding allocated for community composting programs. However, activists and some City Council members successfully secured over $6.2 million in last year’s budget to sustain these vital programs, although that funding is set to expire this June.
The City Council has since proposed reserving $7 million for community composting in the upcoming fiscal budget, with discussions ongoing. The new budget is scheduled for release on July 1.
Regardless of forthcoming budget decisions, many hope that the city’s new mandated food waste recycling program will enhance compost production rates.
Since the implementation of mandatory residential curbside composting in April, the DSNY has reported record-breaking organic waste collections, with 5.24 million pounds collected in the fourth week—a staggering 500 percent increase compared to the previous year.
The enforcement of fines for non-compliance has been paused until the end of the year, following complaints that the surge in tickets issued during the initial weeks posed a burden on New Yorkers.
Meanwhile, the city’s “Compost Giveback Sites” continue to receive and distribute compost to empower New Yorkers to take part in sustainable gardening practices.
Residents interested in obtaining compost can find more details on the DSNY website and prepare to collect their designated bags of compost this summer.
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