MAYOR ADAMS ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF ROLL-OUT OF FIRST-EVER NO-COST, PAIN-FREE CITYWIDE CURBSIDE COMPOSTING PROGRAM
Hundreds of Millions of Pounds of Household Waste Now Eligible for Beneficial Reuse, Either as Soil or Renewable Energy
Fulfils Adams’ 2023 State of the City Commitment
Editor’s note: Staten Islander previously covered the upcoming rollout of the composting program, along with other updates. Photos of the mayor marching in several parades and ceremonies follows the updates.
NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced the completion of the roll-out of automatic, guaranteed, free, simple, weekly collection of compostable material to every New Yorker across the five boroughs. When trucks left DSNY garages serving the Bronx, Staten Island, and Manhattan just after 5:00 AM today, they were making good on a promise that the past administration had made for over a decade. That promise was long derided as impossible, but Mayor Adams committed to making it a reality in his 2023 State of the City address. This program, which began in Queens in the fall of 2022 and expanded to Brooklyn in the fall of 2023, is now permanent and offered citywide — something achieved with a focus on sustainability, cleanliness, equity, and efficiency.
“It’s simple: when food scraps end up in black bags on the street, they become rat food or methane emissions. said Mayor Adams. “Starting today, curbside composting is free and pain-free on every block and in every borough — something prior administrations have tried, but we got it done. I’m grateful to Commissioner Tisch and the dedicated sanitation workers who work day-in, day-out to make this program possible and keep our streets clean for New Yorkers.”
“We are waging a war against climate change. Our weapons are your banana peels, rotten tomatoes, and stale bread,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “Now, in all five boroughs, our easy-to-use curbside organics collection program will prevent these scraps from being shipped to emissions producing landfills, and instead turn them into compost and renewable energy.”
“Curbside composting programs have existed in the city for over a decade, but none have ever served more than 40 percent of New Yorkers — until now,” said DSNY Commissioner Tisch. “This administration has achieved the long-standing goal of bringing composting to every corner of the five boroughs, not as a niche program, but as a free, universal, easy-to-use service — one that will divert record amounts of material from landfills. We’re protecting the environment, fighting rats, and bringing equity to the city at large.”
While curbside composting programs have existed in New York City for the last decade, none have ever served more than approximately 40 percent of the city. Those composting programs had been plagued by stops and starts and complicated rules. This program’s model — no sign-up required, fewer restrictions on material and on type of bin — is a model that can work for all New Yorkers. Every New Yorker can now simply take anything from their kitchen or their garden — all food scraps, yard waste, and food-soiled paper — and set it out for collection in either a DSNY brown bin or their own labeled, lidded bin of 55 gallons or less. In addition, they may choose to line the bin with a clear bag or not, based entirely on their personal preference. This material is collected on the same day that residents already set out their metal, glass, plastic, and paper recycling.
Since their initial launch, New York City’s easy-to-use composting programs have proven to be highly effective. The Fiscal Year 2024 Mayor’s Management Report showed a 65 percent increase in compostable material diverted from landfills over the prior two years — a staggering total of 260 million pounds. The overall diversion rate — the total amount of material kept out of landfills and either processed into compost or waste-to-energy facilities — has increased for the last three consecutive years.
Curbside service is only one part of the wraparound suite of composting services offered by DSNY. New York City is now home to approximately 400 Smart Composting Bins — 24-hour drop-off sites where New Yorkers can bring anything from their kitchen and anything from their garden to be put to beneficial reuse. New Yorkers opened Smart Composting Bins over 1 million times this past fiscal year — a 300 percent increase from the previous year. Earlier this year, Mayor Adams fulfilled a campaign promise by bringing DSNY collection of compostable material to every single New York City public school, helping to train the next generation of composters.
Material collected through these programs is turned into either renewable energy to heat homes or into compost sold to landscapers and given away free to New Yorkers for use in their yards and gardens. Without these programs, these materials would all go into a landfill, becoming nothing but harmful greenhouse gasses. The DSNY Staten Island Compost Facility has produced approximately 40 million pounds of finished compost per year for the last decade. Under the Adams administration, that facility recently completed a major expansion, expanding its capacity to process food waste by 2,000 percent ahead of today’s announcement.
Per local law passed by the City Council, participation in this program becomes mandatory in each borough when service starts, but fines cannot be written until April 2025. The fine structure is the same as the existing requirements for the separation of metal, glass, plastic, and paper recyclables from trash, which starts at $25 for properties with one to eight residential units and $100 for properties with nine or more residential units. This is the exact same separation requirement New Yorkers already know from recycling programs, now extended to the one-third of residential waste that is compostable.
Ahead of the mandate going into effect, DSNY is engaged in a major outreach effort, sending mailings to all covered residents, meeting with community boards and civic associations, and knocking on the doors of all buildings with fewer than 10 residential units in the Bronx, Staten Island, and Manhattan. A similarly robust outreach effort previously proved effective in Queens and Brooklyn.
While this program is for residential waste only, New York City’s commercial waste zone program will also increase commercial diversion of compostable material. Under this program, businesses will pay their private waste carter less to remove compostable material than they do to remove trash, creating a meaningful financial incentive to keep commercial compostable material out of landfills.
“A citywide curbside organics collection program is vital to creating a true circular economy in New York City,” said New York City Chief Climate Officer and New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala. “Instead of simply discarding our organic waste, we are recovering energy and nutrients from this material at facilities like DEP’s Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility and DSNY’s Staten Island Compost Facility. This sustainable cycle of reuse creates valuable products, including compost and renewable energy, like biogas, which can be used to heat homes. This process has proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including methane. Through the end of June 2024, DEP processed approximately 330,000 wet tons of food scraps at Newtown Creek that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill and emitted harmful greenhouse gases. I want to thank Mayor Adams and DSNY Commissioner Tisch for their commitment to making curbside organics collection available to all New Yorkers.”
“This roll out is the city achieving another one of our PlaNYC goals, and an important step towards improving our environment,” said Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Executive Director Elijah Hutchinson. “This diversion will reduce the amount of solid waste generated within the city, the majority of which is currently processed and transferred in a handful of over-burdened environmental justice communities.”
“Today we have reached our goal of implementing curbside composting citywide, allowing us to divert from landfills and compost all 1 million tons of organic household waste New York City produces annually,” said New York State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar. “This is a critical component for a sustainable future: compostable waste accounts for 34 percent of our residential waste, and 20 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions. With curbside composting now in all five boroughs, we will reach our goal of reducing food-based emissions 33 percent by 2030. Diverting organic waste will also deprive the rodent population of food, bringing us closer to victory in the War on Rats. Together, we will forge a path to a sustainable, zero waste, and rat-free future.”
“Curbside composting is officially available all over New York City. This is a pivotal step forward in the fight against climate change and also towards the future of our city,” said New York City Councilmember Shaun Abreu. “The more people participate, the less money we’ll waste sending food scraps to rot in landfills as far as South Carolina and Ohio. Best of all, we can put more compost right back into our community gardens, parks, and tree beds to protect and grow our green spaces.”
MAYOR ADAMS LOWERS CITY FLAGS TO HALF-STAFF, ANNOUNCES CITY HALL, MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS TO BE LIT YELLOW TO MARK ONE YEAR SINCE HAMAS TERROR ATTACKS IN ISRAEL
NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced that city flags have been lowered to half-staff, and City Hall and other municipal buildings will be lit yellow this evening, in remembrance of one year since the horrific terror attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel on October 7th, as well as in advocacy for the safe return of hostages still held captive by Hamas.
“One year ago today, people of all faiths and creeds gathered at the Nova Music Festival in Israel to sing songs of peace and coexistence. With the brutal murder of more than 1,200 innocent men, women, and children by cowardly terrorists, a part of all of us died that day. Hundreds more were taken hostage in the aftermath, and many still remain in captivity today,” said Mayor Adams. “And as we see the devastation wrought on innocent people in the Middle East in the aftermath of this unprovoked attack, the thought of peace becomes even more distant. But that is exactly why we must continue to strive for peace — for the safe return of all of the hostages, for the defeat of Hamas, and for an end to this deadly conflict. To those who plan to use this day to peacefully protest, that is your right. As you do so, remember to follow the law, and I ask you to please hold a place in your hearts for those who lost everything a year ago today.”
Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays and the one year mark of the October 7th attacks, Mayor Adams and senior New York City Police Department (NYPD) leaders briefed New Yorkers last week on preparations implemented in anticipation of increased protest activity. Mayor Adams will join NYPD officers today to thank officers assigned to the October 7th protest detail. He will also reiterate the importance of protecting not only New Yorker’s right to protest, but people of all faiths who wish to live and worship in freedom and security. Later today, Mayor Adams will attend the one-year commemoration of the October 7th terrorist attacks being held by United Jewish Appeal and the Jewish Community Relations Council.
In addition to City Hall, the following city buildings will be lit up yellow tonight:
- Bronx County Courthouse: 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451
- Brooklyn Borough Hall: 209 Joralemon St, Brooklyn, NY 11201
- The David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building: 1 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007
- Queens Borough Hall: 120-55 Queens Blvd, Kew Gardens, NY 11424
- Staten Island Borough Hall: 10 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301
TRANSCRIPT: MAYOR ADAMS DELIVERS REMARKS AT FLAG-RAISING CEREMONY FOR REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Commissioner Ed Mermelstein, Mayor’s Office of International Affairs: Right now it is my great honor and pleasure to introduce the 110th mayor of the City of New York, Mayor Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: It is hard to believe when you think about it, the first Korean state was 4,300 years ago. And you should be really proud of the consistency of your dedication, your commitment. When I was in Seoul several years ago, I saw how family means so much to the Korean community.
How you have advanced technology, everything from high-speed railway to what you’re doing with the car industry, to the technology industry, to the recycling, to provide for the safety and nourishment of our planet. This community has contributed so much globally in general, but specifically you have contributed to the City of New York.
100,000 strong from Koreatown throughout the entire city, you have been very much part of the anchor of what makes New York City great. Keep doing what you’re doing. We’re proud here to raise the flag in independence to celebrate the Korean community and all that you offer. Congratulations. Look forward to raising the flag.
Below images of Mayor Eric Adams delivering remarks at the flag-raising ceremony for the Republic of Korea:
Below Images: Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks at a flag-raising ceremony for the Republic of Korea. Bowling Green Park. Manhattan. Thursday, October 3, 2024. Images Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks and marches in the 87th Annual General Pulaski Day Parade. New York, NY. Sunday, October 6, 2024. Images Credit: Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
The following images were from Saturday when Mayor Eric Adams delivered remarks at the Nigerian Independence Day Parade
Below Images: Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks at the Nigerian Independence Day Parade. 24th Street and Madison Avenue, Manhattan. Saturday, October 5, 2024. Images Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office:
Below are images from Mayor Eric Adams delivering remarks at the New York Police Department (NYPD) Gospel Fest
Below Images: Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks at the New York Police Department (NYPD) Gospel Fest. 177 Dreiser Loop, Bronx. Saturday, October 5, 2024. Images Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
Banner Image: New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks and marches in the 87th Annual General Pulaski Day Parade. New York, NY. Sunday, October 6, 2024. Images Credit: Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
