After Queens and Brooklyn, New York aims to equip the whole city with new brown and orange collection bins before the end of 2024
A worker walks past piles of collected leaves at the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Staten Island Compost Facility.
Image: Angela Weiss / AFP©
New York has begun rolling out a large-scale organic waste collection program, but the landmark initiative has upset many of the local groups that previously handled composting, who say they now face critical funding cuts.
John Surico, a resident of the Queens borough, started separating his food scraps seven years ago.
At the time, he carried his organic waste—which he stored frozen in his refrigerator—across his neighborhood to a collection site.
"It was a commitment," he told AFP recently. "But now, all I have to do is go downstairs."