EARTH DAY!
Do your part for the planet by learning
how and where to compost in Brooklyn
Domingo Morales of Compost Power stands next to a windrow of organic materials at Columbia Street Farm in Red Hook. Photo by Kevin Duggan
INSIDE
Your entertainment
guide Page 23
Police Blotter ..........................8
Opinion ...................................30
Letters ..................................... 31
HOW TO REACH US
COURIER L 6 IFE, APRIL 23-29, 2021
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Composting is one of the
easiest ways to reduce waste
that would otherwise pack
landfi lls and incinerators, by
recycling old food and yard
scraps for a better use — and
yet, city-dwellers have long
struggled to fi nd adequate outposts
for the eco-friendly practice.
Compared to other cities
around the country, New York
City is lacking in municipal
composting services, but there
are still many ways Brooklynites
can dispose of their organics
in an environmentallyfriendly
way, according to the
founder of a Gowanus-based
recycling and composting
nonprofi t.
“Organic waste is 30 percent
of the residential waste
stream. If we can create a
system to get it out, we’re really
going to reduce the waste
stream we’re currently sending
to landfi ll,” said Justin
Green, the executive director
of Big Reuse.
Composting organics diverts
the waste from being
shipped to faraway landfi lls,
where they can cause more
harmful emissions of methane,
a greenhouse gas 25 times
more potent than carbon dioxide,
and burning them in
an incinerator can be damaging
for nearby communities,
Green said.
Big Reuse offers organics
drop-off at the Salt Lot at the
end of Second Avenue near the
Gowanus Canal seven days a
week in collaboration with the
Gowanus Canal Conservancy,
and is one of dozens of community
run sites around the city.
The Department of Sanitation
has a handy map with
all the sites offering drop offs
and what time and days which
they’re open, including farmers
markets, community gardens,
and churches.
Northern Brooklyn and
Manhattan have a dense array
of locations to compost,
while central and southern
Brooklynites will need to
travel further to reach a site
— although, with outposts in
Bay Ridge, Coney Island, and
Canarsie, Kings Countians
are never too far to help the
planet.
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