Speaker Quinn: Apartment-Dwellers Can Compost, Too
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Urban composting isn't a common experience, but if you've got peels, lemons, limes or day-old bread, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said you may as well give it a try.
There's a move in the city to collect foodscraps at select Greenmarkets around the city for composting.
Foodscraps represent nearly one-fifth of all the waste generated in New York City, reports WCBS 880's Rich Lamb.
Quinn said she thinks with a little sorting, you can help nurture Mother Nature.
"You got banana peels, potato peels, you scrape off a cucumber, you got the skin, you got the top of that carrot ... don't put it in your garbage can. Just make another bag, put it in that bag. On Saturday when you're running your errands, go to the Greenmarket, dump it in the garbage can there and, miraculously, it will become potting soil," Quinn said.
The experts say you can also toss in such items as bread and pasta. They advise to keep them in the freezer until you go to that Greenmarket.
"(Foodscrapes) get taken to a facility in Delaware. That factory converts them through a very clean process into - most cases - potting soil," Quinn said.
Do you or would you compost? Tell us what you think below...
There are 10 city locations where you can take your foodscrapes to be composted:
MANHATTAN
Union Square Greenmarket
NE Section of Union Square Park
Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, 8am-5pm
year-round, run by the Lower East Side Ecology Center since 1994. To learn more about the Ecology Center and its services visit www.lesecologycenter.org or call 212-477-4022.
QUEENS
Sunnyside Greenmarket
Skillman Ave b/t 42 & 43 St
Saturdays, drop-off time TBD
seasonal collection returning June 2011
Project managed by the Western Queens Compost Initiative
Jackson Heights Greenmarket
34th Ave b/t 77 & 78 Streets
Sundays, drop-off time TBD
seasonal collection starting June 2011
Project managed by the Western Queens Compost Initiative
EXPANDED COMPOST COLLECTION PILOT SITES
MANHATTAN
Abingdon Square Greenmarket
Saturdays, 8am-12:30pm
W 12th St & 8th Ave
Inwood Greenmarket
Saturdays, 8am-12pm
Isham b/t Seaman & Cooper
Tribeca Greenmarket
Saturdays, 8am-1pm
Greenwich St at Chambers
BROOKLYN
McCarren Park Greenmarket
Saturdays, 8am-2pm
Union Ave b/t Driggs & N 12th St
Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket
Saturdays, 8am-4pm
NW corner of Prospect Park
Ft. Greene Greenmarket
Saturdays, 8am-3pm
Washington Park at DeKalb
Previously managed by Ft. Greene Compost Project since Oct 2005
Brooklyn Borough Hall Greenmarket
Saturdays, 8am-5pm
Court & Montague
