Vandal trashes
Prospect Park
overnight
Photos show the area near the Dog Beach littered with trash.
Prospect Park Alliance
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 23-29, 2021 5
BY BEN VERDE
A destructive act of
vandalism rocked Prospect
Park Tuesday night,
leaving the beloved greenspace
littered with trash.
According to the
Prospect Park Alliance,
roughly 50 trash
cans in the 586-acre lawn
were overturned overnight,
spurring a massive
cleanup effort.
“I was told it was literally
from one end of the
park to the other,” said Alliance
spokesperson Deborah
Kirschner. “Literally
every garbage can.”
Kirschner said the entire
staff of the meadow’s
nonprofi t steward was out
in force to pick up trash as
early as 7 am, along with
roughly 35 volunteers. By
10:30 am when Brooklyn
Paper eyeballed the scene,
most of the debris had been
cleared away.
“We really appreciate
and thank the community
that has come out to support
us, throughout this
entire year,” Kirschner
said.
Photos show the Dog
Beach, located near the
park’s ballfi elds, covered
in a blanket of trash.
Kirschner said among the
other most affected areas
were the Boathouse and
the Music Pagoda.
The Alliance, like
many other greenspace
stewards, has had an uphill
battle throughout the
pandemic. Despite seeing
more use than ever from
Brooklynites with a newfound
appetite for open
space, the nonprofi t lost
$3.2 million in revenue
from March through June,
had to lay off or furlow several
staffers, and was unable
to hire seasonal help
during the summer to
meet park demand.
The park is planning
a volunteer cleanup this
Earth Day, April 22. Volunteers
can sign up at prospectpark.
org/volunteer.
Here’s what’s accepted at
the drop off sites:
• Fruits, vegetables
• ggshells
• Coffee, tea and nuts
• Dried fl owers
• Houseplants
• Bread, grains, pasta
This is what is not accepted
at food scrap drop-off sites:
• Meat, fi sh, and dairy
• Pet waste and kitty litter
• Pressure-treated plywood,
lumber, or sawdust
• Clean paper, glossy paper
• Cardboard
• Metal, glass or plastic
• Medical waste, diapers,
and personal hygiene products
• BPI-certifi ed compostable
plastic products
Letting the scraps properly
decompose over time
creates a nutrient rich blend
that can be used as fresh
soil.
Big Reuse picks up materials
from 40 drop offs around
the five boroughs and redistribute
the soil back to city
parks, community gardens,
and sidewalk tree beds.
The city up until recently
had a curbside pickup program
with brown bins for organic
waste in some parts of
the five boroughs, but Mayor
Bill de Blasio put the service
on pause amid COVID-19
budget woes in May 2020,
and DSNY’s website states
the program is not poised
to come back until June 30,
2022.
Green notes that anyone
with a backyard can easily
compost their own scraps by
getting a tumbler or building
one themselves, which
later will provide fresh and
free soil.
“If you have a back yard
it’s not that hard,” he said.
“Eventually you’ll have
something you can use in
your garden.”
For DIY bins, Green advised
to install some sort of
mesh to keep out pests and
rodents, and he added that
not adding meat, fish, oil,
and fats, and dairy in compost
pile will make it less attractive
to critters.
Borough do-gooders have
started to fill in the gap left
by the municipal cutbacks,
such as Bushwick-based
BK ROT, which has a fleet
of compost bikers that pick
up compost right from your
stoop for a monthly fee as
low as $17.50, serving Bushwick,
Bedford–Stuyvesant,
and parts of south Williamsburg
and northern Crown
Heights.
“All these community
groups really stepped up
to try and fill in the void,”
the eco-friendly Brookylnite
says. “We’re all hoping
DSNY’s curbside pickup
comes back. If enough people
speak up and ask for it and if
the City Council requires it
it will happen.”