Ask Councilmember Eugene to support city composting

Remember how the City used to collect leaves in the fall for its Compost Giveback program? Well, that program has been killed (or at least, temporarily disabled). The PLG Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) blog reports on a new campaign to encourage City Council reps to resume the compost program. Our rep, Mathieu Eugene, sits on the Council Environmental Committee, so there's going to be a “Compost to Council Shout-Out” to urge Eugene to help bring back the program.

Up until 2008, the NYC Compost Project included the collection of our city’s fall leaves–roughly 20,000 tons per year–which will increase up to three times with the Million Trees Initiative, for the production of
municipal compost. This compost was given back to NYC residents and the Parks Department to revitalize our gardens and open spaces. However, the NYC Compost Project faced a lack of financial and political support for the Fall Leaf Collection and Giveback Days, and they have been cancelled entirely "until further notice."

It costs the city nearly $100 per ton–close to $2 million per year–to dump the leaves in out-of-state landfills. This is a costly burial for a local resource, and a primary human cause of methane–a
destructive greenhouse gas–in the atmosphere.  As an efficient, cost-effective (as we already have fully operational municipal composting facilities), and sustainable alternative, composting fall leaves should be the clear choice for our city.

Want to lend your voice to the effort? You can sign the petition organized by East New York Farms right here.