Ihiasota Boniface, USA
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Commissioner Jessica Tisch today announced the launch of the nation’s largest curbside composting program starting this fall, as a weekly collection of compostable materials becomes automatic and guaranteed for every single resident in the borough of Queens. Beginning October 3, all residential buildings in Queens will automatically receive a weekly collection of leaf and yard waste, food scraps, and food-soiled paper products. This is the first time that an entire borough will receive this service — coming to an area that produces significant amounts of leaf and yard waste in particular, as Queens is home to 41 percent of New York City’s street trees.
“Starting this fall, we’re bringing guaranteed, weekly curbside composting to the entire borough of Queens — taking action to keep our streets clean and simultaneously fight climate change,” said Mayor Adams. “This launch makes New York City home to the largest curbside composting program in the country and will help Queens residents easily get rid of yard waste, food scraps, and food-soiled paper products in an environmentally conscious way. There’s no sign-up required, and all that Queens residents need to do is put out their waste in a separate bag or bin. This is how we ‘Get Stuff Done’ for our city.”
“Giving the entire borough of Queens curbside organics collection is part of our larger citywide cleanup,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “Since the start of the year, we have provided funding to put organics collection in every public school, added 250 smart composting bins to our streets, launched a citywide containerization pilot, and increased litter basket collection. And this is just the beginning.”
“Mayor Adams tasked us with developing a new program that would be effective, affordable, and equitable,” said DSNY Commissioner Tisch. “We looked at what had worked in the past, as well as what hadn’t, and developed a smart, innovative solution that is going to be easier for the people of New York City, harder for rats, and better for the planet.”
New York City has developed new extreme routing efficiencies for this program, allowing DSNY to service Queens — the geographically largest of the five boroughs — at the lowest cost-per district of any curbside composting program to date. Queens was selected because of the diversity of communities and housing stock. The borough also includes large leaf and yard waste districts in the east, dense multifamily homes in the west, and a variety of historically underserved neighborhoods that have suffered the consequences of environmental injustice.
The new program will include all leaf and yard waste — which residents already collect and place out separately from trash — as well as all food scraps and food-soiled paper products, such as napkins, paper towels, and unlined plates.
Unlike past composting programs, there is no sign-up required for this new program. Residents of Queens need to simply set out their waste on the assigned day — all collection schedule information will be available on DSNY’s composting website by mid-September — and let DSNY pick it up to turn into usable compost or clean, renewable energy.
