In partnership with the city’s sanitation department, the Lower East Side Ecology Center’s composting program is expanding. The NYC Compost Project already had drop-off sites in the ecology center’s garden on East 7th Street and on East Houston Street at 1st Avenue. Recently two more LES locations were added:
Grand & Clinton – Starting October 6th
Mondays and Fridays 8:00AM – 11:00AM
Location: Southwest corner of Grand and Clinton Streets
East Broadway – Starting October 8th
Wednesdays 8:00AM-11:00AM
Location: Southeast corner of East Broadway and Rutgers Street
Here’s what you can bring:
- Fruits and vegetable scraps
- Coffee grounds, filters, & paper tea bags
- Breads and grains
- Egg and nutshells
- Stale beans, flours, and spices
- Cut or dried flowers
- Houseplants and potting soil
These items cannot be dropped off:
- Meat, chicken, and fish
- Greasy food scraps or leftovers
- Fats or oils
- Dairy items (cheese, butter, yogurt, etc.)
- Dog or cat feces, kitty litter
- Coal or charcoal
- Coconuts
- Diseased and/or insect-infested houseplants and potting soil
The collected materials are taken to East River Park and processed in the organization’s “in-vessel” composting system. After three months, the compost goes to the Union Square Greenmarket, where it is sold.
For more info visit the Ecology Center website or the NYC Compost Project site.
There’s also a compost workshop scheduled: Sunday, October 19, 12-3pm – Compost Harvest and Cover Crop Workday at La Plaza Cultural, at the corner of East 9th Street and Avenue C. You can register here.
