Starting October 6, curbside composting is available in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island after the city previously launched the program in Queens and Brooklyn.
As part of the program, city residents will put their food waste, yard waste and food-soiled paper out in a brown DSNY bin, or any container 55 gallons or less with a secure lid, on their recycling day. The sanitation department will then pick up their compost and put it to beneficial reuse rather than sending the waste to landfills.
According to the NYC Department of Sanitation, the city will pick up waste that includes meat, bones, dairy, prepared foods, greasy uncoated paper plates and pizza boxes.
Some things that can't be composted include animal waste, diapers, personal hygiene products, cardboard or plastic, metal, glass or Styrofoam.
If you're confused about what to compost, it includes food and lawn waste -- essentially anything biodegradable which can decompose back to the Earth.
Under city law, all New Yorkers are already required to separate recyclable materials from the trash. With the city's composting program expansion, they will also now have to separate compostable materials.
Residents who do not follow the guidelines for waste disposal will be subject to fines, depending on what type of building/home you live in.
The expansion comes after Mayor Eric Adams and the NYC Sanitation Department announced in February of 2023 that they aimed to bring composting to all five boroughs within the next 20 months.
NYC's curbside composting program expands
The compost will be used to create soil and renewable energy.
"Curbside composting programs have existed in the city for over a decade, but none have ever served more than 40 percent of New Yorkers - until now," said DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch. "This administration has achieved the long-standing goal of bringing composting to every corner of the five boroughs, not as a niche program, but as a free, universal, easy-to-use service - one that will divert record amounts of material from landfills. We're protecting the environment, fighting rats, and bringing equity to the city at large."
You can learn more about the composting program on the NYC Department of Sanitation's website.
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