Opinion: Why NYC Needs Community Composting to Make Curbside Collections Work

When people see the composting process up close when they hold the finished product in their hands they re far more likely to separate their food scraps at home A May rally outside City Hall against funding cuts to society composting programs Gerardo Romo NYC Council Media Unit As the City Council debates the budget there s real concern that population composting could be eliminated again It happened in It could happen this year too That would be a huge mistake That s because while New York City has at last made composting easy the question remains will people do it The city s new curbside composting project which was rolled out last fall but became mandatory for the bulk residents beginning April means New Yorkers can put food scraps and other food waste in a brown bin and set it out like they do their recycling But infrastructure alone won t make it a success Right now participation is low Only percent of compostable materials are being diverted That means tons of food scraps were trashed in just the last quarter of wasted guidance that could have enriched soil and cut emissions The difficulty isn t access It s behavior And behavior doesn t change through mandates alone New York has a chance to lead the way not just by building the infrastructure but by building the lifestyle That s where locality composting comes in These local programs don t just process food scraps and create compost for city trees parks and gardens They close the gap between protocol and participation When people see the composting process up close when they hold the finished product in their hands they re far more likely to separate their food scraps at home This behavioral shift is critical a survey this year by the CUNY School of Populace Healthcare identified that percent of participants in area composting programs shared increased awareness of food waste and percent mentioned they had reduced their household waste Neighborhood composting doesn t compete with curbside composting it fuels it And the ecosystem demands both types of composting now more than ever Food scraps in a landfill don t just disappear they rot release methane and add to the situation mess Curbside compost largely turns food waste into biofuel Society composting turns waste into rich healthy soil that holds water strengthens plants and truly gives something back to the planet Combined these composting efforts can cut greenhouse gas emissions in half That s the difference between keeping carbon in the soil or pumping methane into the air If we re looking for an easy circumstances win this is it Unfortunately population composting has been treated as expendable despite its proven impact In the Adams administration eliminated all funding forcing small-scale composters to scrape by on private donations It took sustained advocacy rallies hearings constituents pressure for the City Council to restore million in the last fiscal year budget But even with this supremacy the funding shift underscores a troubling reality public composting remains vulnerable Unlike curbside composting which has dedicated city support community-based programs constantly have to fight for their existence Yet these programs do what program alone cannot they educate engage and create the cultural shift necessary to make composting a habit They also give residents an option While the curbside effort generates biofuel region composting offers a truly circular system one that regenerates soil and strengthens local ecosystems If New York is serious about reducing waste and cutting emissions it must do more than save region composting from the budget axe It must treat it as an essential part of our composting infrastructure not an afterthought Christine Datz-Romero is the co-founder and executive director of the Lower East Side Ecology Center The post Opinion Why NYC Demands Region Composting to Make Curbside Collections Work appeared first on City Limits