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More Brooklyn neighborhoods will be recycling kitchen scraps soon

City to distribute special brown ‘organics collection’ bins

March 21, 2014 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Curbside “organics recycling” in Brooklyn
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A pilot program requiring residents to sort organic waste into special brown outdoor “organics bins” for curbside pickup will be expanding into Park Slope, Gowanus, Greenwood Heights, Sunset Park, and Bay Ridge.

The expansion, taking place during April and May, will more than triple the number of single-family homes and small residential buildings recycling their kitchen scraps and leaves — from 30,000 to 100,000 households. The program will also be expanding in Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will turn the collected organic waste — including food scraps, food-soiled paper plates, and yard waste — into compost for gardens and parks or renewable energy.

The week before the service begins, residents of these areas will receive a special starter kit including a brochure, a small kitchen container, and a brown outdoor organics bin with wheels, a lid and a latch.

Participants will collect kitchen waste like coffee grinds, apple peels, chicken bones and vegetable scraps in their small kitchen containers, then empty them into the brown organics bin outside, along with leaves and lawn waste. Leaf and yard waste can be bundles separately.

According to DSNY, compostable scraps and leaves account for roughly 30 percent of New York City’s garbage.

“New York City spent more than $85 million in 2012 exporting organics to out-of-state landfills. By launching our organics collection program, we will help the city reduce trash disposal costs and create renewable energy or compost – a natural fertilizer,” Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty in a statement. “As we continue to expand the program, greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced and, most importantly, the city will move closer to achieving its recycling goals.”

Community Board 6’s Environmental Protection/Permits/Licenses Committee will be discussing the program at a meeting on March 24 at 250 Baltic Street (between Court and Clinton streets), Auditorium, at 6:30 p.m.

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