Composting is finally back. The city’s mandatory program, which was interrupted by covid, starts Sunday, Oct. 6; compost will be collected on the same day as recycling. Brooklyn and Queens have been at it for a while; Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx are just catching up.

Buildings with four or more units are required to have a brown bin, and the Department of Sanitation is giving them out for free here. You can also use any bin (55 gallons or less) with a secure lid and can order a free DSNY decal for your bin describing how to compost.

DSNY WILL PICK UP:
leaf and yard waste
food scraps including meat, bones and dairy
food-soiled paper including greasy uncoated paper plates and pizza boxes

DO NOT COMPOST:
diapers
personal hygiene products
animal waste
non-paper packaging

Compost collected in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and parts of Queens will go to the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, where it is anaerobically digested — the process of converting food scraps and yard waste into renewable energy (biogas) and fertilizer. Otherwise that same biogas is released directly into the air — and food scraps make up one-third of New Yorkers’ trash.

Queens has been composting since 2022, and it took some needling from the Manhattan borough president and councilmembers to get it back here. The curbside bins, controlled by an app, will stay in place for now. See that map here.

If you want some NYC compost, you have to register to pick it up in Greenpoint or Queens between May and September. Seems a little complicated, but if you are really into it, see that info here.