Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch (left) and Councilmember Julie Menin at a newly installed Smart Composting Bin on the Upper East Side.
The Department of Sanitation has installed 14 “Smart” Composting Bins on the streets of the Upper East Side, Councilmember Julie Menin has announced. These bins are among 150 being installed below 96th Street in Manhattan, and are in addition to the universal curbside composting service coming to Manhattan in October 2024 (when food composting is expected to become mandatory).
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The solar-powered bins are accessible 24/7 through the NYC Compost App, which has a list of locations and an ‘unlock’ function. The app is available on both iOS and Android, and there’s a QR code on each bin, so you can download it when you get there.
According to the Department of Sanitation, Smart Composting Bins are designed to accept “all food scraps, plant waste, and food-soiled paper. This includes meat, bones, dairy, prepared foods, and greasy uncoated paper plates and pizza boxes.”
The bins are emptied regularly and resulting food scraps are “composted to beautify green spaces across NYC.”
Council Member Menin requested these bins earlier this month, citing strong support among Upper East Siders including P.S. 183’s Girl Scouts Troop 3138 and students at Town School, who together wrote to the Council Member advocating for more recycling and composting opportunities within the neighborhood.
The Smart Composting Bins can now be found at the following locations:
- Southwest corner of 2nd Avenue and 86th Street
- Northwest corner of 2nd Avenue and 82nd Street
- Northeast corner of 1st Avenue and 91st Street
- Southeast corner of 2nd Avenue and 72nd Street
- Northeast corner of East 66th Street and 1st Avenue
- Southwest corner of 83rd Street and East End Avenue
- Northwest corner of 1st Avenue and 88th Street
- Northwest corner of 2nd Avenue and 95th Street
- Northwest corner of 3rd Avenue and East 95th Street
- Southeast corner of East 92nd Street and 2nd Avenue
- Northeast corner of 1st Avenue and East 76th Street
- Southeast corner of 79th Street and York Avenue
- Southwest corner of 3rd Avenue and East 88th Street
- Northeast corner of 2nd Avenue and 76th Street
I’m all for clean air, but I’m in Queens and I’m not going to go outside and out my food remains in a bin. I do recycle everything, but we’ve gotten out of hand with all of the different bikes crowding the city with bikers breaking traffic laws that drivers couldn’t get away with. Tree huggers – go move to the country.
I think it’s great and we all need to do anything/everything we can to help our environment. I don’t look forward to the extra work. Change is always hard, but this is well worth it and we will get used to it just the same as recycling, wearing seatbelts, etc.
Rock on Commissioner Tisch!!
#JessicaTisch
Meat and bones are not safe for compost and not good for soil – it can contaminate soil- compost should only be vegetables and fruits and coffee grounds or beans no meat – this could spread disease