Five Composting Questions With the Alliance’s Senior Director of Planning

The Downtown Public Compost Pilot Program has had a successful first year. The joint effort between the Downtown Alliance and the Department of Sanitation, which has led to the installation of 10 app-secured composting bins all over the neighborhood, yielded more than 58,000 tons of organic waste in its first 12 months. And hundreds of people have signed up for the easy-to-use app so far! 

We talked to Senior Director of Planning Jane Wolterding, from our operations department, to learn about the program, the benefits of composting and how we can all make our households a little more Earth-friendly.      

Why is composting important?

Composting is a really easy way to reduce the organic waste that goes into landfills. About a third of New York City’s residential waste stream is organic, and when it goes into a landfill, it breaks down into greenhouse gasses. Whereas when it gets processed as compost, you end up with nutrient-rich fertilizer that you can use in your garden, and also isn’t harming the environment. 

It’s a really easy way to reduce the amount of waste that you create and make a difference on an individual level. I noticed once I started keeping food scraps out of the trash that I didn’t have to take the trash out as often. And it no longer smells. So those are all benefits for yourself, and at the same time, you can feel good about what you’re doing for the environment on a bigger level.

What can be composted?

It varies by who is processing it, but generally: fruit and vegetable peels, eggshells, coffee grounds, uncoated food-soiled paper, tea bags or coffee filters. We’re lucky because we are partnered with DSNY, who collects and processes our organics. So they also are able to accept meat and dairy, which are usually not allowed in smaller-scale composting operations because they take longer to break down. We also take houseplants.

What is the goal of the composting program? How successful has it been in its first year?

The goal of the program was to test whether an app-secured bin could be used successfully in a busy downtown area for 24/7 dropoff, and generally to make composting more accessible to people in our district. This was important for two reasons. One is that a lot of the food scrap dropoffs in the city are hosted at farmers markets, so they’re only available at limited days and times, which doesn’t always work for everybody’s schedule. Two, there have been reduced options for food-scrap dropoffs since the pandemic with the reduction of the curbside organics collection program. 

Overall, the program has been very successful. As of the one-year mark in December, we had collected over 58,000 pounds of organic waste and had over 1700 people signed up to use our app. We will have a year in review to share with all these stats from the program, but overall people are extremely excited about it and really love it.

Can you tell us a little about how the program works?

If you see one of our bins out in the wild, you can scan the QR code in the front and it will take you to the app download page for whatever operating system your phone has. Once you download the app, you just have to make an account. And once you’re logged in, you can go to the bin you want to use, click the bin icon to open and then dump your compost in there. You can drop off your scraps, shut the bin and you’re done.

Does the Alliance have any future sustainable initiatives in the pipeline?

We typically host two recycling events a year. They always include a shred-a-thon, usually paired with an e-waste recycling or clothing textile recycling event. We haven’t scheduled them yet, but we plan to host one in the spring and one in the fall. They’ll be announced on our social media accounts and in our newsletter.