Eight million New York City residents consume many products. According to the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, New Yorkers collectively produce more than 14 million tons of trash yearly. The average person produces 4.4 pounds of garbage each day. Some residents look for ways to consume products responsibly.
The most effective way to reduce your total trash footprint is to reduce the number of items you consume. Even the most mindful consumers will still create some sort of waste, but how residents dispose of it affects the amount of trash they contribute.
One of the most beneficial things city residents can do for their community is compost. Composting consists of safely disposing of organic waste and using the surplus material for other purposes, like creating a healthy garden. However, composting can take up space in a small living situation. City residents must get creative to compost in their homes effectively.
Whether you live in New York City or anywhere else, composting is an eco-friendly activity that helps limit your trash contribution. This article will discuss the most important things to know about composting, including how this process works and how you can compost while living in an
What is Composting?
Composting is an activity that involves the recycling of food and other types of biodegradable waste. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), composting provides various environmental benefits that improve soil health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and decrease the severity of drought impacts.
Contrary to what some people assume, composting is an activity you can do regardless of where you live. Whether you live in an apartment in an urban environment, a desert, or anywhere in between, there are likely many composting options within reach.
There are select items that can compost and many that are unsafe for composting. Take time to get familiar with what is safe to compost, as using the wrong material could do more harm. Generally speaking, it is only safe to compost biodegradable items that naturally decompose over time.
Safe Items to Compost
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the following items are safe to compost:
- Nitrogen-rich materials like food and vegetable scraps, most grass clippings and yard trimmings, coffee grounds and paper filters, paper tea bags without the staples, and crushed eggshells,
- Carbon-rich materials like dry leaves, plant stalks and twigs, shredded non-glossy paper, shredded brown bags, shredded cardboard without wax coatings or glue, and untreated wood chips.
Most biodegradable items are safe to compost. To help determine if something is biodegradable, determine if bacteria or other living organisms can decompose the material. Many food packages and labels now disclose if something is safe for composting.
Unsafe Items to Compost
While all compostable items are biodegradable, not all biodegradable items are safe for composting. The EPA further outlines that those practicing composting should avoid the following items:
- Black Walnut tree leaves and twigs: this particular plant can release a substance that can potentially harm other plants.
- Coal: once coal (or charcoal) has been used, it is no longer nutrient-rich and may harm other plants.
- Dairy products: attract other pests and create a strong odor.
- Animal Scraps: other animal scraps, including meat bones, fish bones, general meat scraps, lard, and animal fats, will also smell bad and attract unwanted visitors.
- Animal Waste: pet waste and other types of animal waste can carry parasites, bacteria, and a variety of harmful viruses.
- Yard Trimming with Chemical Pesticides: pesticides contain chemicals that are deadly to plants.
- Treated products: wood, paper, and cardboard with prints, glossy finishes, and adhesives are unsafe for composting.
- Produce stickers
- Aggressive weeds and weeds with seeds: they will take over and harm other plants
- Dryer lint
If you’re doubtful about whether something is safe to compost, take a moment to research before adding it to the bin. When in doubt and without an answer, ere on the side of caution and throw the item away. Polluting a compost pile could ruin that entire section of materials.
What Are Some of the Benefits of Composting?
While composting takes time and energy, there are several benefits for those who decide to embark on the process. As of 2018, Americans only composted 4.1% of their food. Increasing composting efforts can yield the following benefits:
Reduce Landfill Usage
Filling landfills generates a significant amount of methane, a greenhouse gas that directly weakens the ozone layer and contributes to climate change. Composting reduces the amount of trash that person generates, therefore decreasing the amount of methane their trash produces.
Carbon Sequestration
Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in the soil, keeping it out of the air in the form of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Compost helps increase the amount of carbon that soil can contain, helping to develop carbon sinks in the earth. Some scientists believe that the strongest way to combat climate change is through carbon sequestration.
High-Quality Fertilizer
Compost is an excellent fertilizer as it directly adds organic matter to the soil and provides it with additional nutrients to stimulate plant growth. Compost helps soil retain nutrients and encourages healthy organisms that decrease the need for pesticides and store-bought fertilizer.
Soil with compost also grows more resistant to the impacts of climate change, helping a garden live through varying environmental conditions.
Ecosystem Health
Large-scale composting can significantly improve ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, and ecosystems with contaminated soils. An increasing amount of people who decide to compost can greatly decrease the negative effects of climate change. While many average citizens cannot significantly impact the environment on their own, widespread initiatives like composting can make a difference.
How Does Composting Work in NYC?
People living in New York City will likely face a few composting challenges that their counterparts in less populated areas simply do not. Since most New York City residents do not have a yard, they do not have space to dispose of compost. Many residents also live in smaller condos or co-ops and do not always have an easy time composting in an apartment.
However, many New York City projects help compost and even accept unwanted biodegradable products.
Curbside Composting
The New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Curbside Compost program allows participants to leave compostable materials on the curb for pickup. Any community member can sign up for this program that services all five boroughs.
If your neighborhood does not work with the program, the department also places brown bins around the city that say, “Food Scraps and Yard Waste” for city residents to easily dispose of their materials.
Compost Drop-Off in NYC
The Department of Sanitation also sponsors a drop-off program, where residents simply have to bring their compostable materials to one of their 200 locations and place them in the appropriate bin. DSNY plans to add an additional 250 bins across the city by the end of 2023. Interested participants can click here to find their closest bin. Be sure to take note of the bins operating hours, as they are not all accessible at the same times.
NYC Compost Project
Residents who live near community gardens can bring their compostable material for use in the garden’s soil. DSNY currently works with seven organizations, including:
- Big Reuse,
- Brooklyn Botanical Garden,
- Earth Matter NY, LES Ecology Center,
- The New York Botanical Garden,
- Queens Botanical Garden, and
- Smug Harbor Cultural Center.
How to Compost in an Apartment
New York City apartments may not have room for a compost bin or a yard with soil to dispose of the compost. However, many residents can still follow the below tips to learn to compost in their own homes.
Use a Worm Bin
The best way to compost indoors is with a worm bin, also called vermicomposting. Worms play a critical role in the decomposition process and allow at-home composters an easy way to reduce their environmental impact.
Those interested in this method should start by acquiring a worm bin with several small holes drilled or punched into the top (ideally, about ¼” in size). The bin should measure at least 12” x 12” x 12” in size.
Once you’ve built the bin, you’ll be able to add your bedding. To easily make bedding, simply place strips of moist newspaper in the bottom, filling the container about two-thirds of the way. Or, if you know someone who has already created a compost project, you might be able to use their compost to get started.
After adding the bedding, your bin will be ready for the worms, which can be purchased at several different places across New York City (including fishing supply stores). The ideal worm for this bin will be a red wiggler, which can easily compost half its body size in a day, but other types of earthworms can also work. For the best results, keep the temperature of your worm bin between 55 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit and place it in a dark location. After the worms are ready, you can begin feeding them with compostable material. Three to six months later, you can add the finished compost to the soil.
Store Compost Matter Effectively
If you cannot bring your compost matter to a bin immediately, the following tips can help keep compost in ideal condition:
- Store the scraps in a designated airtight container. You can use a container at home or look online for specific compost containers that retail for less than $50. An apartment compost bin can rest on a kitchen counter or in a cabinet under the sink. It can even be useful to open the container while preparing an ingredient-heavy meal to then quickly dispose of scrap food products.
- Freeze the compost scraps to prevent bugs and pests from accessing them. If you plan to use the compost in your own worm bin, make sure to defrost the scraps before feeding it to the worms. Use any freezer-safe material like a glass container or freezer bag to prevent a freezer burn.
Use Your Compost Material
Once you compost your food scraps, you can apply the material to your own at-home garden. Whether you have decadent greenery on your rooftop garden or a modest herb collection in the kitchen, you can mix a section of finished compost in with potting soil to give your plants a boost when repotting. If your plants are content in their pots, simply add one to two inches of finished compost to the top of the soil.
For the lucky backyard owners with larger gardens, consider adding compost to vegetables during the Fall season and continue adding half an inch as they continue to grow. Flowers digest compost best in the Spring for growing but can also use an inch in the Fall as a protectant from cold weather.
Conclusion
New York City residents can still participate in the composting process by collecting their scraps for delivery to a community facility or for use in their at-home garden. The city has several initiatives in place to help residents simply collect their food scraps and then bring to bins in their area. If you do not have easy access to a compost bin, you can complete the process at home or attempt to motivate other businesses or gardens in your area to collect compost material. Composting reduces your carbon footprint and helps the local vegetation, making it an easy and feel-good process.
