A record-breaking 3.8 million poundsof compost were collected in the second week of a new recycling mandate — a number so overwhelming that the city is opening a new site dedicated to the “black gold.”
That’s 1,900 tons of food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard waste that was kept out of landfills, making for the highest single-week total in the city’s history, the Department of Sanitation told The Post.
The jaw-dropping — and likely vomit-inducing — load is three times what was being composted a year ago, when organic recycling was encouraged in the five boroughs but not mandated.
It’s also a 12% surge from the 2.6 million pounds that were collected in the first week of the new program earlier this month.
“After 12 years of treating composting like a niche program, it took just two weeks of regular operations to hit a record amount of food waste and yard scraps kept out of landfills,” Acting Commissioner Javier Lojan told The Post in a statement. “These staggering numbers show that creating a normal, easy-to-use, and enforceable composting program works.
“When you cut it out with the special rules, off-days, and starts and stops – when you make it EASY to participate – New Yorkers do the right thing time after time, and they set records along the way.”
The previous record for compost collection was set in November 2024 when the department first rolled out its composting model — but back when it was a voluntary program.
For two weeks in a row, more than 3.2 million pounds of compost were collected, which fell more in line with expectations for the autumn season when residents are tossing leaves and yard waste.
To break that record in April is unprecedented, the agency said.
While the tonnage of compost skyrockets, the number of fines seems to be plummeting, which could be an indication that New Yorkers are getting on board with the new mandates.
Some 1,758 summonses were handed out to properties that were still tossing their compostable materials in the regular trash, which is slightly down from the 1,885 that were issued the week prior, Sanitation officials shared with The Post.
The number of people asking for their compost back — this time in the form of gardening soil — is also on the rise, leading the city to open a new composting distribution site in Astoria.
Compost lovers can pick up 40-pound bags from the 77-28 19th Avenue facility starting on Wednesdays.
The new 77-28 19th Avenue facility will be the third giveaway site. The original opened in Dutch Kills in 2017, while a Greenpoint site has been in operation since last summer.
Sanitation officials expect to give away more than 5 million pounds of compost to residents for free this summer. Tens of millions of pounds will also be given away to nonprofits and sold to landscapers this year.
The mandated composting program has been controversial since fines for not complying went into effect on April 1.
Landlords and property managers have decried the mandate as unsustainable, arguing that it would force their staff to dumpster dive into piles of trash to separate the food scraps that their tenants, benefiting from the anonymity granted by trash chutes, declined to sort.
Last week, the Common Sense Caucus introduced a bill that would reverse the mandatory aspect of the program and roll back disciplinary fines.
The small group will likely run into trouble passing the bill — the City Council only approved the mandatory composting laws in 2023.