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Composting

Composting at the Garden

6/15 Green is a public composting drop-off site. Local residents can recycle their kitchen scraps and organic waste in the garden during open hours or whenever the gate is open. Public composting is a program designed to bring awareness to the surrounding neighborhoods about composting and its impact on our city.

 

Our composting program is supported by The New York City Compost Project hosted by Brooklyn Botanic Garden.  We are also supported by the Park Slope Food Coop, delivering greens and browns to our bins.

 

How to Compost at the Garden

 

  1. There are 3 bins in the back of our garden.  Place your greens into bin #1 (the bin on the left) and cover with browns (wood shavings, hay, manure, shredded newspaper) available in the steel bin next to the compost bins. If brown material is not available use unfinished compost from second bin.

  2. Mix together your compost with the compost in bin

  3. Make some air holes with tools available

  4. Top with a layer of browns

Notes:

  • Please do not add water to the bin

  • Please chop up your waste before adding to the pile [small pieces compost faster].

 

The following material is compostable:

 

  • Chopped up fruit & vegetables

  • Potato peels, fruit rinds and cores etc. [please no large hard, seeds like mango, avocado or coconut]

  • Coffee grounds, paper filters, and tea bags without staples

  • Cut flowers (before they seed)

  • Garden weeds (except invasive weeds like mugwort, woody rose and the deadly yellow clinging vine a.k.a. strangle weed)

  • Grass clippings

  • Fresh leaves

  • Seaweed

  • Horse manure

  • Bread & grains

  • Food soiled paper towels, napkins and paper plates

  • Cotton balls, Q-tips, Shredded newspaper (except no shiny paper, no color print supplements)

  • Wood ash from untreated wood (no charcoal ash)

  • Dried leaves

  • Packing peanuts (the ones that dissolve in water not Styrofoam)

  • Animal fur, human hair, nail clippings

  • Dryer lint

  • Hay and straw

  • Eggshells

  • Old potting soil

  • Small branches cut into pieces 2″ or smaller 

 

Do not compost the following material:

 

NO mugwort or wood

NO animal products (chicken, bones, or fish, dairy, eggs, fats, oils or grease)

NO plastic, plastic, bags, twist ties, rubber bands etc.

NO cat or dog waste

NO large fruit seeds like avocado, mango, coconut

NO thick wooden branches

NO thick stalks like sunflower, hollyhock (or prickly branches, like roses)

NO diseased plants

NO pesticide treated plants or grass

NO treated wood, sawdust or plywood, shavings.

 

Storage Ideas

 

Depending on your family size and eating habits, a shoe box size plastic container in your fridge keeps smell to a minimum. A bucket or large coffee can under the sink with newspaper, paper towels or finished compost in the bottom will cut down on smells by absorbing liquids. Composting a lemon a couple times a week will help keep the bucket smelling fresher. If you accumulate your compostables in the freezer, please bring it to the garden already thawed and dispose of the container.

 

The concept of composting is to return to the earth what we have harvested from her. If you think of it that way you’ll always know what to and what not to compost. Composting is the wonderful process that occurs naturally when the nitrogen in greens and the carbon in browns are mixed together and are transformed into rich, nourishing, soil-like substance.

Composting in the City

Looking for locations to compost closer to you? Here's a non-comprehensive list of locations across the boroughs that accept compost. For more options, check out GrowNYC: https://www.grownyc.org/compost 

Brooklyn

BK Rot

1278 Myrtle Avenue, Bushwick

Wednesdays: 9AM-2PM

Sunday: 12-3PM (food scraps only)

Neighborhoods Eligible for pick-up: North & Central Brooklyn

Doesn't Accept: Fish, meat, dairy, eggs, pet waste or litter, and compostable foodware

 

Vokashi

380 Classon Avenue, Bedford

Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM

Neighborhoods Eligible for pick-up: All five boroughs

Doesn't Accept: Take-out food containers, wax paper, plastic wraps, fruit/vegetable sticker labels, coffee cups, straws, styrofoam, rubber bands, twist ties, bubble wrap, and bones.

 

Sure We Can

219 McKibbin Street, Williamsburg

Mon-Fri 7AM-5:00 PM

Sat 7AM-1:00 PM

Doesn't Accept: Meat, fish, plastic, plant-based products, and dairy products. 

 

Nurture Bk Compost

Prospect Lefferts Garden and Flatbush (Contact for specific address)

Saturday-Sunday 8:30AM-10AM

Doesn't Accept: Fish, meat, dairy, compostable foodware, and paper towels.

 

PS 20 Clinton High School

225 Adelphi Street, Fort Greene 

Fridays 12PM-9PM

Doesn't Accept: Animal-based products 

 

Q Gardens

58 E 18th Street, Prospect Park South

Saturdays 10:30AM-12:30PM

Sundays 2-4PM

Doesn't Accept: Meat, fish, fats, oils, dairy products, plastic, metals, glass, and deceased or pest-treated plants. 

 

Rhodora Wine Bar

197 Adelphi Street, Fort Greene 

Monday-Friday 3-9PM

Saturday-Sunday 12-9PM

Doesn't Accept: Meat, fish, greasy food scrapes, fats, oils, dairy products, coal, charcoal, coconuts, diseased or insect-infested houseplants, compostable plastics, and receipts. 

 

Tyrome Tripoli's Gallery Petite

114 Wilson Avenue, Bushwick 

Monday-Sunday 9AM-9PM

Doesn't Accept: Meat scrapes, dairy products, fish, oils, deceased, and insect-treated plants.

 

Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum

5816 Clarendon Road, Canarsie

Friday-Saturday 1-4PM

Doesn't Accept: Plant-based products, meat and bones

 

BK Scrap Shuttle

Cooper Park West, East Williamsburg 

Monday 9-10:30AM

Thursday 5-6:30PM

Doesn't Accept: Fish, meat, citrus, compostable utensils, oils, and paper products.

 

Bushwick City Farm

354 Stockton Street, Bushwick 

Saturdays-Sundays 12:30PM to dusk 

Doesn't Accept: Fish, meat, dairy, fats, oils, and grease

 

Domino Park

15 River Street, Williamsburg  

Mondays 10AM-12PM

Thursdays 6PM-8PM

Doesn't Accept: Citrus, coffee filters, compostable products, dairy products, fish, garlic, onions, and meat. 

 

Nature Based Nursery

123 3rd Street, Gowanus 

Sundays: 9AM-5PM

Doesn't Accept: Meat, dairy, oily foods, large sticks, bulk yard waste, and compostable bags and utensils. 

 

North Brooklyn Compost Project

Sundays 10AM-2PM

Doesn't Accept: Meat, fish, whole eggs, bones, dairy products, compostable utensils, plastic, rubber bands, gloves, and paper towels. 

 

Queens 

Astoria Pug

Saturday-Sunday 9AM-9PM

Doesn't Accept: Plant-based products, meat and bones

 

Manhattan

Reclaimed Organics

415 E 11th Street, Lower East Side

Sat/Sun 10am-4pm

Monday 10am-1pm

Tuesday 3pm-5pm

Wednesday 1-3, 5-6pm

Thursday 10-12, 1-2, 5-7pm

Friday 5pm-7pm

Neighborhoods Eligible for pick-up: 100th Street south to Battery Park, East to West

Meat, bones, dairy, oils, plates, bowls, cups, napkins, paper towels, and tissues

 

Earth Matter NY

Governors Island 

Saturday-Sunday 12-4PM

Doesn't Accept: Meat, fish, plastic, oils, grease, and dairy products

 

Jenny's Garden

W 138th Street at 12th Avenue, Harlem 

Saturday-Sunday 9AM-5PM

Doesn't Accept: Meat, fish, dairy products, paper towels, oils, grease, and compostable utensils

 

LES Ecology Center

7th Street, Lower East Side

Monday-Sunday 9AM-9PM

Doesn't Accept: Fish, bones, shells, dairy products, fats, greasy foods, pet feces or litter, plants, and compostable plastic

 

The RING Garden

Seaman Avenue, Inwood 

Tuesdays & Thursdays 8AM-10AM

Saturdays 9AM-12PM

Doesn't Accept: Fish, meat, and dairy 

 

Bronx

Friends of Brook Park

Brook Avenue & E 141 Street, Mott Haven 

Saturday-Sunday 12-4PM

Doesn't Accept: Fish, meat, dairy products, compostable plastics, and bones

 

GreenFeen Organix: The Compost Co-Op

No Drop-off Location, Pick-up Only

Hours: Must schedule a time

Neighborhoods Eligible for Pick-up: North Bronx

6/15 Green: A Community Garden in South Slope, Brooklyn, NY (6th Ave. & 15th St.) info@615green.org

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