Tag: grow nyc

NYC Composts

In 2015, the New York City Department of Sanitation announced their goal to have zero landfill waste by 2030.  By limiting our landfill waste, the City of New York is able to cut down on waste transportation, processing , and storage costs.  Shipping NYC’s trash alone costs $400 million a year. This also reduces emissions and energy usage in addition to making New York City a better and cleaner place to live.  This mission encompasses the tripartite scope of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental.  Although, it may be a lofty goal to completely end landfill waste in 15 years, it is most definitely a step in the right direction towards a more sustainable New York.

Part of this 0x30 Campaign is to introduce composting as part of the garbage regime of New Yorkers.  Right now, most people recycle hard plastics, metals, and paper and then just throw out the rest.  However, much of what goes into landfill trash can actually be composted.  17% of all of NYC trash is food scraps that can be composted. Large composting buckets are being handed out by request to various apartment buildings and houses. However, the Department of Sanitation does not currently pick up compost everywhere.  For places not served by the DoS, people can drop their compost off at 60 locations throughout the five boroughs setup by GrowNYC.

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In addition to composting, food scraps are beginning to be used to generate energy for the city.  Anaerobic digesters use bacteria and other microorganisms that eat New Yorkers food scraps and, in turn, produce methane, which can be used as an energy source.  The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is one of the locations that have been multi-purposed to dual as an anaerobic digester.  Although its use is fairly minimal right now, as infrastructure is developed for it, anaerobic digestion will likely be used as a source of energy for New York City.