New York's first family pushing composting with new video

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (WABC) -- The New York mayor and his family, before moving to Gracie Mansion helped made a video in their Brooklyn home to convince New Yorkers that composting is a good thing. It features his daughter, Kiara, who said she is a dedicated recycler.

"You can also put soiled paper products into the bin including pizza boxes or dirty paper towels," she says in the video.

It's all part of a renewed effort to get New Yorkers to compost more. It's now a pilot program that began last year and expanded to about a 100,000 homes this summer.

You can put just about anything organic into the bins, such as grass clippings, any leftover food or soiled paper, and the bins are actually more secure than plastic bags because the lids have latches on them.

About a third of all trash in New York is considered organic. In this Brooklyn neighborhood where they compost, they produce far less waste.

"Absolutely, it's a lot less trash ... which is nice," said Alexandra Jacobus, a composter. "When I do pruning in the garden -- the garden's grown a lot this year -- I actually have someplace to put it, besides a black plastic bag, for it to go into a landfill."

The bins are picked once or twice a week. It's only in a few neighborhoods but could go city-wide ... someday.

"I am very anxious to try and move this citywide," said Kathryn Garcia, a sanitation commissioner. "But I want to make sure we are successful."

The experts say they found those in the pilot program have strated recyling even more... meaning even less trash.

"I will have folks come up to me and says I have no more garbage. I have nothing left to throw out in a black bag," Garcia said.

The bins are eventually dumped on Staten Island. The material's watered, then a huge machine grinds it up and it's filtered in another area. The rich compost is used for city parks and gardens.

If you'd like to find out more about organic composting, go to http://nyc.gov/organics.