Green Tips: Celebrating National Composting Day

This Wednesday, May 29th, is National Learn About Composting Day. What better way to celebrate than to start incorporating composting practices into your daily life? Composting is an easy way to reduce your overall waste and repurpose it for something greater.

Compost is decomposed organic food waste that is recycled for other uses. Thirty percent of all waste contains food and yard scraps that could otherwise be composted. Composting your waste keeps these natural scraps out of landfills where they take up space and release methane – a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon. If composted, organic waste can become a useful fertilizer that adds nutrients to soil for trees, gardens, and farms. In New York City, the composted matter is also converted to clean energy.

Instead of contributing more waste to a landfill, you can start composting and contribute to an organic and natural landscape! We know that composting may be daunting, but this type of recycling is an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Check out our tips and get started today!

Prepare your bin for indoor composting.

You can find a composting bin at a local hardware store, gardening supplies store, or make it yourself. A properly managed and sealed compost bin will not attract pests or rodents and will not smell bad.

Collect food scraps, yard waste, and food-soiled paper.

Store these materials in any bag or container in a convenient space until your pick-up day. Some compostable materials include: fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, coffee filters, paper tea bags, bread and grains, eggshells, nutshells, corncobs, food-soiled paper towels and napkins, shredded newspaper, sawdust and wood shavings from untreated wood, stale beans, flour, and spices.

Find drop-off sites.

Click here to view the full list of organic waste drop-off sites in New York City. Click here to find some drop-off sites throughout New York State. Localities collect this organic waste to turn into fertilizer or other uses.

You can also use your compost at home. If you have a yard or want to start a garden, your compost will be ready in two to five weeks. You can use compost to naturally fertilize your garden.