by Jen G 
How many of you Greenpointers have your own compost bin? Or bring your food scraps to the Greenmarket on Saturday in McCarren Park? Doesn’t it feel so good? Do you get giddy when you see all the food waste that doesn’t get thrown into plastic bags and sent to a landfill? Now the rest of this city is finally getting on board and this will directly benefit Greenpoint and North Brooklyn.
The city announced yesterday…
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A point of clarity. This citywide composting WILL allow the composting of “everything that grows” including meat, bones, cheese, etc. This does NOT work in home composting but is possible with more intensive municipal scale composting. I think this is a huge step forward for the city as it could reduce the amount of waste we pay to bury, by 30% according to current estimates.
This is so exciting! I am doing research for food info for our new Brunch in Brooklyn bike tour and am going to include composting as something important in the area to reduce waste and improve environmental conditions. Thanks for all your work on this!
Jon is correct. (Its almost as if he had some sort of horticultural training followed by involvement in a local community-based composting initiative…) You can compost anything that will biodegrade, and even add in a few shells and bones for mineral content. In the house, backyard or McCarren Park you want to limit fat and protein in the pile because it breaks down slowly and can smell when you inevitably have to turn it. At a large scale site or farm, you throw it all in.