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Collect Your Scraps
Keep Out! (Of Your Compost)
Keep Out! (Of Your Compost)
If you are composting your food scraps yourself or taking them to a drop off site like GrowNYC, the rules are basically the same:
- Fruit and vegetable scraps: cores, peels, etc.
- Fruits and vegetables well past their prime
- Non-oily food scraps - rice, pasta, bread, grains, and cereal
- Coffee grounds
- Loose tea and tea bags that don’t use microplastics (remove staples)
- Eggshells
- Nuts and seeds
- Last week’s bouquet of flowers
- That houseplant you accidentally killed
- Old potting soil
Keep Out! (Of Your Compost)
Keep Out! (Of Your Compost)
Keep Out! (Of Your Compost)
Leave the following out of your food scraps meant for composting:
- Meat
- Dairy
- Fish
- Bones
- Fats and oils
- Oily food scraps
- Animal waste and kitty litter
- Charcoal
- Coconuts
- Plastics, twist ties, rubber bands
- Infected house or garden plants
- Vines
- Medical waste, diapers, personal hygiene products
- BPI-certified compostable plastic products
Storing Your Scraps
You've Got Options!
You can use what you already have at home to store your food scraps until you drop them off, compost them, or have a service pick them up.
A paper bag or a zip-top plastic bag is great for keeping about a week’s worth of food scraps in your refrigerator or freezer.
- PRO: Food scraps that are cold or frozen won’t smell up your kitchen.
- CON: This takes up space in your freezer or fridge.
A large glass jar with a tight-fitting lid is a great way to reuse a coffee can, spaghetti sauce jar, or mason jar. I put a jar next to my tea kettle to hold used tea leaves and coffee grounds.
- PRO: takes up less space on your countertop, is easily reusable, easily cleaned, and won’t hold smells.
- CON: fills up quickly.
A stainless steel compost pail has a tight-fitting lid and many come with a charcoal filter to control odor. They can hold about 1 gallon of food scraps and MAY fit on your countertop.
- PRO: holds a lot of scraps, keeps odor under control, and is easily cleaned.
- CON: You probably have to buy one and they can take up space in a small kitchen.
compost drop off sites
In Bed Stuy
Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church
228 Decatur Street (at Lewis Ave.)
Open Saturdays, year-round, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Added bonus: sign up to pick up a Fresh Food Box the following week! Cash, SNAP/EBT, Debit/Credit. Healthfirst OTC cards, Health Bucks, Greenmarket Bucks, Fresh Connect coupons accepted.
Each box has 6-10 seasonal farm products and additional items are available for purchase. Prices start at $14.
In Crown Heights
87-91 Schenectady Avenue
Open year-round, Wednesdays (8:00 am - 10:00 am) and Saturdays (11:00 am - 1:00 pm)
1100 Bergen Street Community Garden
1107 Bergen Street
Open Sundays, year-round, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Walt L. Shamel Community Garden
1097 Dean Street
Open Saturdays and Sundays, April - January, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Nostrand Avenue and Crown Street
Open Fridays, year-round, 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Crown Heights Franklin Ave. Food Scrap Drop-off
Eastern Parkway and Franklin Avenue
Thursdays, year-round, 8:30 am - 11:30 am
In Bushwick
In Ft. Greene
In NYC
The New York City Department of Sanitation keeps a list of all compost drop-off sites in the five boroughs. Their Make Compost, Not Trash site has great information on composting at home and signing up for curbside composting.
Check the list to make sure that the drop-off site you are using is open and to get a detailed list of what they will and will not take.
Do you have an update?
We will update new drop-off sites and hours as often as we can. If we missed a site or if the hours have changed, please CONTACT US and we will verify and update our information.
steps to take to save nyc composting
Save Our Compost NYC
Show Interest in Curbside Composting
Show Interest in Curbside Composting
Save Our Compost NYC is working to keep full funding for community composting programs in NYC and expand curbside composting. Sign the petition to tell the mayor and your city council member to save our compost.
Show Interest in Curbside Composting
Show Interest in Curbside Composting
Show Interest in Curbside Composting
Bed Stuy does not have access to curbside composting from the Department of Sanitation. Show the Department that there is a great interest in curbside composting in Bed Stuy by filling out the request form or calling 311.