Starting April 1, 2023, New York City mandates residents to separate organic waste from regular trash, enforcing fines of $25 for non-compliance. This initiative aims to promote curbside composting, which the city began rolling out across all five boroughs late last year. Composting reduces methane emissions from landfills, aligning with broader goals to cut food waste in half. However, New York City currently recovers less than 5% of eligible organic waste, lagging behind other large cities. Critics argue for more educational focus on composting benefits to improve participation rates.
That is only half the story: We picked up 2.5 million pounds of compostable material last week, a 240 percent increase over the 737,000 pounds collected during the same week last year.
When it can't do that, composting is one tool to help reduce emissions from organic waste - the methane released as food decays in landfills is a major driver of global warming.
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