Recommendations and Recap from Our 2014 Organic and Waste Composting Forum

June 30, 2015

Our third and final forum in our Dig Deep for a Greener New York policy forum series, focused on Organic Waste and Composting. Our panelists from a variety of organizations discussed different ways the city can make the most of composting and alternative methods on how to divert food waste from landfills.

After the forum, we got to work with the panelists and other experts to suggest concrete steps the city can take to make sure New York City is doing everything it can to make composting efficient and environmentally worthwhile. Today, we’re excited to announce the release of our paper highlighting our recommendations the city can act on. Download the whole report to get all the details.

Our key recommendations include:

  • Maximizing the use of anaerobic-digestion capacity at NYC DEP’s wastewater treatment plants.
  • Assessing the capacity of the city’s wastewater treatment system to expand on Newtown Creek.
  • Launching a pilot project to create exclusive franchise zones for commercial organic waste, giving new plants a long term supply commitment.
  • Considering measures to encourage the use of in-sink organic material grinders in appropriately targeted multi-family districts.
  • Establishing a “Save-As-You-Throw” system, which would provide an economic incentive for generating less waste, recycling more, and participating in community-based, centralized, or “in-sink” organics programs.

“Diverting organic waste is the key to achieving the City’s landfill reduction goals,” said Marcia Bystryn, President of the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. “But it must resolve the severe need for more of processing capacity before further expanding organic waste collection.”

PlaNYC2030 set out an ambitious goal to divert 75 percent of our solid waste from landfills. With food making up 35 percent of all waste generated in New York City, composting represents a huge opportunity. More than 100 people showed up for this forum, where some new and exciting ideas were presented about how to make composting work in our city.

WNYC wrote a great article about the ideas presented by Councilmember Antonio Reynoso at our forum, and you can read more in our white paper. Don’t forget to check out the packed house on our Facebook page.

Click here to Download our Organic Waste Recommendations for NYC

< Back to Publications

Related Articles

How does New York stack up when it comes to electric vehicles? Read our fact-sheet on the State of EVs in New York, part of our Plug It In, NY campaign.

Electric vehicles have many advantages over gasoline-powered cars including better fuel economy, lower maintenance costs, zero emissions, and less pollution. Thinking of going electric? Check out our fact sheet on buying EVs, part of our Plug It In, NY campaign.

As part of our public awareness campaign on electric vehicles, Plug It In, NY, we released the fourth in our series of fact sheets. This one focuses on the costs, incentives, and funding opportunities associated with purchasing and owning an EV.

We are excited to publish our inaugural Annual Report so that we can provide a progress report on our advocacy, programmatic, and development goals.

Going electric is one of the best ways New Yorkers can fight climate change. As part of our public awareness campaign on electric vehicles, Plug It In, NY, we released a fact sheet on the environmental and public health benefits of EV adoption.

As part of our public awareness campaign on electric vehicles, Plug It In, NY, we released the second in our series of fact sheets to encourage New Yorkers to make an EV their next vehicle. Our second fact sheet covers everything there is to know about charging an EV.

As part of our public awareness campaign on EVs, Plug It In, NY, we released the first of a series of fact sheets to encourage New Yorkers to make an EV their next vehicle. This first fact sheet dispels myths about charging range which many associate with EVs, known as range anxiety.

We are excited to release our new report “5 is the New 15” about how strengthening the 2016 Safe School Drinking Water Act could protect more students and staff from lead exposure in school drinking water. At our press conference to release the report, we urged the State to reduce the action level for lead in…

NYLCVEF has released its Clean Bus Guide: a toolkit of resources for community members and groups to launch their own campaign for electric school buses.

Get Involved

THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS