Bill seeks to boost New York City’s composting capacity

A bill introduced by the New York City Council would require the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) to establish at least one organic waste composting facility in each of the city’s boroughs between 2026 and 2027, reports City Limits.

“The goal is to generate more compost for local use,” Councilmember Sandy Nurse, the bill’s sponsor, tells City Limits. “Compost is an important input for our local ecosystem. And producing that locally and using it locally is beneficial to the environment.”

While 36 percent of the city’s waste is suitable for composting, only 20 percent of the food scraps and yard waste collected from the curb in New York City is actually turned into compost, according to DSNY.

New York City currently is home to two facilities that can process food waste for both composting and anaerobic digestion. One is located on Staten Island and the other in Brooklyn. DSNY says it is looking to diversify where the city’s organic material goes and has an active procurement for vendors that has the potential to change the number of facilities producing compost.

Nurse tells City Limits the goal of her bill is to encourage the build-out of sites solely dedicated to composting—smaller alternatives to the high-tech and expensive facilities currently processing both aerobic digestion and compost.

Environmental advocates are backing the bill in the wake of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration defunding the city’s community composting program.

“Compost is a valuable resource that can be used to nourish the depleted soil of local parks, community gardens and street trees and the over 12,000 rain gardens the city has created as part of its climate resiliency plan,” says Jane Seldon, chair of the committee on waste reduction at the environmental group 350 NYC.