Earth-loving New Yorkers are drawing from an unlikely arsenal of activism, hip-hop, marathon city-council Zoom meetings, and one sassy pug to hold the city to its zero-waste commitments. If they succeed, the environmental benefits could be huge.
NYC’s Ambitious Composting Initiative Has Decomposed
arrow The Big Reuse site under the Queensboro Bridge will be forced to move over the next few months. Audrey Carleton / Gothamist
One of the last community composting sites in New York City can be found under the Queensboro Bridge in Long Island City. Mounds of mulch piled five feet high sit next to stacks of green bins and construction materials. The piles of organic matter are divided into phases by their decomposition stage. Some are composed of banana peels, orange rinds, and egg shells, while others resemble something closer to soil. These mounds are tended to by volunteers for Big Reuse, a non-profit composting site responsible for converting over one million pounds of food scraps to nutrient-rich soil each year.