Restler asks about compost drop-off sites and large building composting
Restler raises concerns about the stability of compost drop-off sites at farmers markets and about large buildings with trash chutes not setting up composting. Anderson agrees access for large buildings is important and encourages residents to call 311 if their building lacks a brown bin.
You know, our legislation, the idea was to make composting convenient on street corners for the times where it's not your household waste.
But, you know, as I think during your brief sojourn up to Albany, we, you know, really struggled here when Grow NYC.
Refused to continue to operate compost drop-offs at their farmers markets.
You know, at the farmers markets in my community, in McCarran Park and McGolrick Park, McGolrick is with Big Reuse, McCarran, well, I think Big Reuse is taking over McCarran too, that was a growing YC market.
As examples, we still have huge numbers of people that come every single week to drop their compost off.
And so,
I'm concerned that we still need locations for people to be able to take their compost, whether it's household or otherwise.
We've gotten a lot of complaints from larger buildings that have trash chutes and where they're not having composting set up in the buildings.
Maybe it's just the scale of the buildings are challenging for...
The building management staff to handle the compost.
Are you concerned about, I guess there's a couple questions there.
One, are you concerned about the full adoption of composting, especially in larger buildings where the operations are a bit more involved?
And then secondly, are you concerned about
the stability of the compost drop-off sites we have across the city.
And do you believe that they serve an essential role in kind of achieving our compost goals?
So thank you for those questions.
And it's two very different questions.
Yes.
Fully agree with you on access to.
Convenient composting for apartment building residents, particularly in larger buildings.
And that's a place where we are doing a lot of enforcement already.
If there are residents out there whose buildings do not have a brown bin and are not setting a brown bin out for collection,
Call 311, let us know.
We'll do outreach first, and then we will write tickets, and we will not stop.
And that's where, in addition, I think the outreach and education is really valuable to teach people how easy it is to compost in their own apartment.
When my wife and I first started composting, she was not a fan.
And she was just like, why do we need four different trash cans?
Now we were just at my in-laws house in Pennsylvania where they don't compost.
And she literally was looking around my mother-in-law's kitchen for a place to put the eggshells.
And so, and we live in a high rise apartment in Long Island City.
So, you know, it is easy for apartment residents to compost.
If you know how to do it, and if you have some easy tips, if we had more resources to be able to do that outreach and education, I think that's where the investment is really meaningful.