Good morning. It’s Wednesday. Today we’ll look at curbside composting. The city will begin fining buildings that don’t separate compostable material from other waste starting next month.
Confusion about curbside composting has been rising as April 1 approaches. That is when buildings in New York City that don’t separate compostable waste from other trash will face fines of as much as $300 per violation.
April 1 is 13 days away, so why think about this now? Because you may want to get something to put your compostable material in before you take it to a bin. Compostables like food scraps can be messy. Here’s a head start on sorting it all out.
What can I compost?
Food scraps and food-soiled paper, according to the city’s Sanitation Department. This includes meat, bones, dairy products, pizza boxes and greasy uncoated paper plates, as well as products that are labeled compostable. Also leaves and yard waste, if you have any.
There are some don’ts. Diapers and personal hygiene products don’t go in the composting bin. They should be disposed of in your regular trash bin. Also, don’t put recyclables — metal, glass or plastic — in the composting bin. Many recyclable products are not compostable.
What about aluminum foil with grease on it? Where should I put that?
Aluminum foil is metal, so it goes in the recycling bin for metal, said Joshua Goodman, a deputy sanitation commissioner.
Don’t worry about the grease. “The idea that recyclables need to be absolutely free of all residue is a myth,” he said. “A little grease is no match for the recycling process.”
Can I really include meat, poultry and eggs? They were no-nos in some past composting programs.
Yes. Some community organizations run drop-off composting programs that don’t take meat or dairy products.
But “the large-scale composting done by the city welcomes these components,” Goodman said. “Why would we want a curbside program and not take everything from your kitchen and your garden? You don’t have to know the bagel is compostable but the cream cheese isn’t. That’s too much to ask. If you cook it or you grow it, you can throw it. Anything from your kitchen. Anything from your garden.”
What should I do with my scraps before disposing of them?
Goodman said the best around-the-kitchen compost container is “something you already own” — an old takeout container you can stick in the freezer, for example. And, as my colleague Josh Ocampo noted in December, Wirecutter recommends several receptacles — bowls, bags and other types of containers — for compostable scraps that you’ll eventually take to a composting bin.
Can I put my food scraps in a plastic bag, or not?
Yes, as long as it’s a clear plastic bag. “The same kind you would use for your recycling,” Goodman said.
But you don’t have to put your compostables in a plastic bag. Read on.
Can I put my food scraps in a paper bag?
No, Goodman said. Use a plastic bag.
What about compostable bags sold at the supermarket?
“Sure,” Goodman said, “but you don’t have to.”
Such bags are made of biodegradable materials. Some pilot programs required them and had other rules that Goodman said served as “barriers to entry” for composting. The Sanitation Department’s guiding principle for citywide composting was to simplify what consumers needed to do.
Why are clear plastic bags acceptable?
The Sanitation Department now has equipment with sensors that can recognize and filter out inorganic material like plastic bags.
The machines have blades that break open the bags. The compostable material goes one way, with compostable material that was not bagged. The remnants of the bag go another way, to be recycled. The system is “going to get those pieces of plastic out” of the material that is composted, Goodman said.
What if I just put my food scraps straight into the bin without a bag?
That’s fine, although you’ll probably want to wash your hands afterward. And someone — you, if you live in a single-family house, or the landlord, the super or a member of the building staff in an apartment building — will have to rinse the bin from time to time.
I live in an apartment, and there’s only one composting bin for the entire building — downstairs, in the basement. What am I supposed to do with my drippy, gooey food scraps? Should I just put them in with my regular trash?
No, take them downstairs. You’ll probably want to bag them to keep from spilling them in the elevator.
But above all, don’t put your compostables in with your household trash, as you might have done in the past. After April 1, the city can issue fines if compostable material is not separate from the other kinds of waste you throw away.
So the only thing that’s really changing on April 1 is enforcement?
Right. You should already be composting. The Sanitation Department rolled out the citywide program by borough, starting in Queens in 2022 and moving on to Brooklyn in 2023 and the other three boroughs last fall. The Sanitation Department picks up compostables on the same day it collects recyclables and other trash.
Who pays the fines, and how much are they?
The landlord, in a rental building, and tenants’ rents can’t be raised to cover the fines. In a co-op or a condo, the board could raise the monthly maintenance charge if it wanted to.
The fines are the same as for recycling violations. For a building with one to eight apartments, the amounts are $25 for a first offense, $50 for the second and $100 for the third and any violations after that. For a building with nine or more apartments, the fines are higher — $100 the first time and $200 the second time. After that, any violations are $300.
My building doesn’t have a bin for composting.
There are orange “smart composting bins” on many street corners. But you’ll have to sign up for the NYC Compost app to open them.
You can also find a drop-off site with green bins that do not require an app. But the hours they are available may vary.
The law says that any building with four or more apartments must have an area that’s accessible for compost drop-offs. What “accessible” means is open to interpretation, Goodman said. “‘Accessible to residents’ is going to look different in every building” and does not guarantee that a composting bin will be available around the clock or that there will be a bin on every floor, he said.
The super is worried that composting bins will attract bugs or worse.
“Pests won’t go for the compost,” Goodman said. But rats will go for trash if it contains material that should have been separated for composting.
What if a building is not composting?
Starting on April 1, you can call 311 to report buildings that do not have bins for composting. Goodman said 311 calls “will absolutely inform our enforcement” of composting — meaning that Sanitation Department agents will first go to the buildings that have been reported before they simply work their way through a neighborhood.
Weather
Expect a sunny day with the temperature reaching nearly 60. At night, it will be foggy with a dip into the mid-40s.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until March 31 (Eid al-Fitr).
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Puzzling
Dear Diary:
I was happily doing a crossword puzzle on the subway when my pen ran out of ink. I shook it, but no luck, so I put it and the puzzle in my purse and pulled out a magazine.
A few seconds later, a pen appeared in front of me, held by the man sitting beside me. I thanked him profusely and took my puzzle back out, but his pen didn’t work either. I gave it back to him and returned to the magazine.
A few second later, the same man offered me another pen. This one worked. I thanked him again and returned to working the puzzle.