Universal curbside organics collection rolls out in Queens this week

The city is rolling out universal curbside organics collection in Queens on Monday, Oct. 3 — the city’s first borough-wide collection of food and yard waste.

The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will pick up the compostable waste from the curb weekly in the World’s Borough — no sign-up required.

DSNY is piloting the program for about three months until the week of Dec. 23, pausing for the winter, and then restarting it in late March, according to an agency spokesperson.

“We are excited to be launching the largest curbside composting program in the nation,” said Vincent Gragnani. “Participation in this program will bring us a cleaner city — with fewer feeding opportunities for rats and other critters — and a more sustainable future.”

Leaf and yard waste, food waste, and food-soiled paper can all go in a bin, and New York’s Strongest will pick it up on the same day as recycling.

Separately put out recyclables, such as metal, glass rigid plastic, beverage cartons, clean recyclable paper, and cardboard.

Do not mix in trash like diapers, hygienic products, animal waste, wrappers and packaging, or foam products.

Compost, come all! Free curbside composting is coming to all of Queens!

What can you compost at the curb? All leaf and yard waste PLUS food waste and food-soiled paper.

Get all the information here: https://t.co/Ly3nkKJ75c pic.twitter.com/qUZ4buJ1Kg

— City of New York (@nycgov) October 1, 2022

DSNY gave out tens of thousands of free brown bins on request until this past Saturday, according to Gragnani, but any bin with a secure latched lid works, to keep rats from getting in. You can also order a Sanitation decal online for your composting bin.

Queens buildings with 10 or more units also automatically got a brown bin, according to the agency.

Mayor Eric Adams unveiled the new organics initiative in August billing it as the country’s largest curbside composting collection program, covering 2.4 million residents in the Big Apple’s biggest borough by area.

It’s a successor to former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s program, which spread neighborhood by neighborhood and required a sign-up, but Adams slammed that effort as just “symbolic” for capturing scraps from less than one in 10 of eligible buildings.

The previous scheme continues for New Yorkers living in parts of Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan.

Other cities like San Francisco and Seattle have had universal composting collection for years.

About one-third of the 24 million pounds of trash hitting the curb in the Five Boroughs every day is organics, which could be diverted from dumps.

When the city sends the materials to the landfill meshed with other garbage, they decompose and emit the highly-polluting greenhouse gas methane.

By collecting them separately, the city can convert the organics into compost and repurpose that as nutritious soil in the parks, while also cutting the harmful emissions.

For more information on the city’s organics collection program, visit visit nyc.gov/curbsidecomposting. DSNY decals are available at nyc.gov/CompostingBinDecal.