New York City residents subject to fines for failing to separate compost waste from trash
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A major change is coming to New York City that could impact your trash habits and your wallet.
Starting Tuesday, New York City residents will be subject to fines for failing to separate compostable materials from their regular trash.
Residents across the five boroughs are now mandated to separate leaf and yard, food and food-soiled waste from their trash after the city's curbside composting program expanded citywide last October.
As part of the compost program, residents 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 city's sanitation department then picks up their compost and puts it to beneficial reuse rather than sending the waste to landfills.
Fines will be determined by what type of building a person lives in and whether this is a first, second, third or a subsequent offense. For buildings with one to eight units, fines start at $25 for the first offense, whereas buildings with nine of more units will face fines starting at $100.
Acting NYC Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan says each building management will have their own structure in terms of integrating the changes. Lojan also said that buildings with four or more units are required to have a designated area for composting, and that the property owner will be responsible for the fine.
In terms of enforcement, there will be a new 311 complaint that people can call if their building is not complying with the composting program. Lojan adds that officials are already checking neighborhoods to make sure they're following guidelines.
"We have supervisors that go currently right now and check all the materials and all the street segments," he said. "They will be out there. If there's no brown bins, that will be an idea for them to go out and see why they're not putting any material out. Then, they'll do an investigation."
Policing composting is not sitting well with superintendents who say they already have too much on their plates.
"Supers should not be worrying about dumpster diving, they should be maintaining aging buildings," said New York Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos.
He wants at least a delay.
Curbside composting started as a voluntary program back in 2014, according to Lojan. There have been different iterations of the programs over the years, and now the city has decided to simplify it.
"A lot of it has been a little bit complicated, so we've simplified it this time. It's universal, everyone has access to it, it's pretty simple," Lojan said. "We always say: if you grow it and cook it, you can throw it."
More specifically, 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.
"Over a third of our trash that we throw out is compostable. It goes to landfills, which creates methane gas, which is a greenhouse gas that's bad for the environment. So, it's very important for us to recycle this to have renewable waste," Lojan said.
Under city collection laws, all New Yorkers are already required to separate recyclable materials from the trash.
You can learn more about the city's composting program and requirements on the NYC Department of Sanitation's website.
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