Will Required Composting In Brooklyn Work?

The Bloomberg administration announced earlier this week that it plans to instate a required composting program to be administered by the next mayor.

The program, which has already launched in Staten Island, it is set to spread with a sample of 25,000 residents throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens, and then with volunteer participation from 150,000 single-family homes and 100 apartment buildings, before becoming mandatory by 2016.

The plan is to reduce food waste and associated costs by using scraps to make fertilizer and natural gas. By 2017, the goal is to divert 30% of waste from landfills.

The composting initiative has achieved a 43% participation rate in Staten Island, the NYC borough with the largest number of single-family homes, but it will be interesting to see how it goes over in congested areas with more apartment buildings. The New York Post found some locals who were worried about rats and raccoons, and we’re wondering how effectively the program could be enforced.

Of course, we already have some great composting options around Ditmas Park, like Compost for Brooklyn, Sustainable Flatbush’s Healing Herb and Flatbush CommUNITY Gardens, and the Cortelyou Greenmarket–but what do you think about making food recycling mandatory? Is it realistic? Would there be issues with animals? Let us know what you think.

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