Curbside composting takes off

Riverdale resident Kea Myers used to save her food waste in her refrigerator so she could try taking it to a food scrap drop-off at the farmer’s market in Inwood over the weekend. But with three children, the youngest still a baby, making the trip proved to be difficult.

“I would fill the fridge and not make it on Saturday, and I’d have to throw it all away,” she said.

Ms. Myers said she would feel bad about it since she knew it was better to be composting and diverting all her organic waste from the landfill.

“I’m from Vancouver: I recycle!” she said with a laugh.

But for the last five months, Ms. Myers has not had to worry about the trip to Inwood. In June, the city’s Department of Sanitation brought curbside organics collection to 2,700 homes in Riverdale. It is part of a citywide pilot program to divert organic materials like food scraps and food-soiled paper from the landfills and into composting.

Ms. Myers said her bin has helped her reduce the amount of garbage her family produces, and that she sees her neighbors partaking in the program as well. On a recent Friday evening, the night before the garbage collection, the brown bins could be spotted around the neighborhood.

The Department of Sanitation did not provide answers to a press inquiry. Robert Fanuzzi, the former chairman of the Environment and Sanitation committee for Community Board 8 (CB) who helped bring the pilot to Riverdale, said he has not heard of any problems with the program.

“Anecdotally, I have only heard great things,” he said. “I think Sanitation was totally correct in choosing CB 8 [for the pilot].”

For those who do not have curbside composting, the New York Botanical Garden runs food scrap drop-off sites around the Bronx. Unlike the curbside program, which sends the refuse to facilities around the state and beyond, these organics are composted locally. One site, operated with the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, just closed for the season. The other local site is at the corner of Kingsbridge Avenue and West 231st Street, near the Church of the Mediator.