NYC Begins Mandatory Composting Enforcement

New York City’s mandatory composting went into effect at the start of this month, and the city has already issued hundreds of tickets.

According to the New York City Department of Sanitation, curbside composting is now available city-wide, and all residents are expected to separate organic waste from trash destined for landfills. All compost waste can be placed in a department-provided brown bin or in a 55-gallon or smaller bin that is labeled and lined and has a secure lid. The bin can then be placed on the curb for pickup on the same day as recycling pickup.

For those who don’t properly compost their organic waste, the city has started fining property owners. Owners of buildings with up to eight units face fines of $25 (first offense), $50 (second offense) or $100 (each additional offense), while owners of buildings with more than nine units could receive fines of $100 (first offense), $200 (second offense) or $300 (each additional offense).

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As Gothamist reported, the city has sent out nearly 2,000 fines for failure to comply with the new composting mandate within the first week of April. Property owners were initially receiving written notices since the mandate took effect in October 2024.

The city has already seen an improvement in composting rates with the more stringent enforcement. Gothamist reported that compostable material collection increased to 2.5 million pounds in early April, up from 737,000 pounds compared to last year before the mandatory composting was required city-wide.

“New Yorkers have been clamoring for years for a curbside composting program that’s normal,” said Joshua Goodman, spokesperson for the NYC Department of Sanitation, as reported by Yahoo! News. “No special rules, no off days, no starts and stops — not a niche program where we act like they’re doing us a favor by participating, but a regular, easy-to-use Sanitation service.”

However, some residents are concerned about the fines as a method for encouraging composting. Lou Reyes, a composting advocate in New York City, told Grist, “My concern is that, instead of doing outreach, we’re focusing on fear-mongering.”

By comparison, officials in other cities with long-standing mandatory composting programs have found that educational resources, public outreach and assistance have been effective ways to promote composting.

“I would say our biggest tool that the department uses is education,” Joseph Piasecki, public affairs and policy coordinator at the San Francisco Environment Department, told Grist. “They will reach out, our department will reach out, we will call, we’ll put boots on the ground to go, like physically go, there, and be like, ‘How can we help you be successful?’”

Another critique is a lack of transparency about where the collected compost will go. As City Limits reported, much of the compost is used for biogas, which can produce high emissions, pose methane leak risks, and leave behind waste known as digestate that goes to landfill. Some of the compost is sent to the Staten Island Compost Facility, and smaller amounts are sent for composting at out-of-state facilities, SI Live reported.

By comparison, cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles use the organic waste collected from mandatory composting programs for fertilizing farmland.

Still, the composting regulations in New York City are a step toward improving the city’s 5% residential composting rate, but critics have said that officials should consider additional educational resources and alternatives to burning compost for fuel to make the process more sustainable and equitable. 

The composting regulations are also already facing challenges, including a bill introduced this week by the New York City Council to overturn the mandate, PIX11 reported.