New composting site comes to E. 7th Street
on Lower East Side
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Prior to the COVID-19 Pause that
stopped daily routines, hundreds of
local denizens embraced separating
their plant-based kitchen scraps to
become compost. Ecology-minded New
Yorkers stored their peelings in the fridge
or freezer, dropping them off at a collection
point for composting.
Union Square and Washington Market
are two of the 50+ Greenmarkets that had
accepted organic materials for compost
and in the Village, Chelsea, East Village,
and Lower East Side, bins consigned on
a weekly schedule provided seven more
convenient drop-off sites, a program of
the Lower East Side (LES) Ecology Center.
On Tuesday mornings, this writer would
bring eggshells, coffee grounds, rinds and
peelings to a collection bin on 6th Ave.
and Spring Street; COVID-19 halted all
this activity.
With no place to take their fruit and
veggie scraps, stale bread and dried-up
fl owers and dead plants, many who so
diligently brought these for composting,
with much distress threw them away. For
others, a good habit is hard to break as
they continued to separate and —so it won’t
smell, freeze—store their organic refuse.
On July 19, the LES Ecology Center
launched a Sundays community drop-off
site with collection bins outside its E. 7th
St. Community Garden between Aves B
and C, hours 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On that fi rst day of collection, E. 9th
Street residents, musicians Ellen Mandel
and Michael Lydon brought a variety
of plastic bags and containers holding
one week’s worth of kitchen peelings for
composting.
Kyleen Sanchez, LES Ecology Center staff at the info table at the E. 7th St. site
assists those dropping off their organic deposit.
“For years I’ve dropped off here,” says
Mandel, who with Lydon eats mostly nonmeat
meals at home, thus generating a lot
of compost-ready materials.
Throughout the afternoon a steady
stream of East Village residents stopped
to make their organic deposit.
Overseeing the drop-offs at the reopening
of this site, LES Ecology Center staff
member Kyleen Sanchez remarked, “People
are really excited to be here. They’ve been
saving scraps and were really sad to throw
them away.“
Researching for a compost drop-off site
and fi nally fi nding the opening of the E.
7th St. site for compost collection brought
Suzanna Bredenberg from Hell’s Kitchen to
the East Village on Sunday, July 26.
“This is the fi rst time I’ve been on a
subway,” she announced, having taken the
R train and walked blocks east to get to the
community garden. It was time to empty
the freezer. Previously she would drop-off
compost materials at Pier 84 on 44th St.
Similarly, one Stuyvesant Town resident
traveled by Citibike with her organics.
“I was disappointed when in May, they
discontinued our complex’s Brown Bin
PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY
recycling program,” she said. (In early
May, Department of Sanitation suspended
its Brown Bin program, which collected
kitchen scraps deposited in bins at homes
and some large apartment complexes.)
Additionally, the LES Ecology Center’s
East River Park Compost Yard, located
on the East River along the service road
south of the amphitheater, began accepting
organic materials on July 13.
Recently, City Council restored $2.86
million for community composting programs,
however, this amount falls short of
restoring all programs.
At least 10 people a day stop at the Union
Square Greenmarket info table to ask when
will compost drop-off begin again there.
Happily, composting through GrowNYC’s
Union Square Greenmarket will resume
this Saturday, August 1.
The LES Ecology Center is rolling out
a phased reopening of food scrap drop-off
sites as it works to bring back the breadth
of its program. It is hoped that the Union
Square site will reopen soon. In the meantime,
it continues to have a presence at that
Greenmarket, selling compost, potting soil
and compost equipment.
These East Villagers are happy to be
able to resume bringing their kitchen
scraps to a compost drop-off site
You can’t start too soon in providing
environmental education as this Ave.
B mom explains what the kitchen
scraps are all about
The Downtown Alliance prioritizes a
clean, safe and healthy reopening
BY JESSICA LAPPIN
The Downtown Alliance has always
centered its work on keeping the
neighborhood clean and safe. As the
district begins to reopen after the COVID-19
pandemic, we are working hard to ensure
that residents, workers, and visitors also stay
healthy as they enjoy all that Downtown has
to offer.
New Yorkers need to be able to feel
comfortable visiting local businesses. This
is why we’re piloting hand sanitizing stations
throughout the district near public transportation
sites and distributing 100,000 masks
to as many as 300 local businesses through
donations from Fosun and the City of New
York.
Distribution of face masks is on a fi rstcome,
fi rst-served basis to businesses below
Chambers Street. To see if you qualify and
to request a delivery of masks, please contact
our director of storefront engagement
Heather Ducharme at hducharme@downtownny.
com.
We extend great thanks to Fosun for its
generous donations of the masks as well as
to the City of New York for its assistance.
Be safe out there, and welcome back.
We’re looking forward to seeing you.
Downtown Alliance President Jessica Lappin (left) and Chair of the Board
Ric Clark distributing masks to Lower Manhattan businesses.
4 July 30, 2020 Schneps Media
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