Every NYC home now has curbside compost pickup

The Sanitation Department now picks up food scraps and yard waste from the curb at homes in every part of New York City. You can put out leaves and yard trimmings, all food scraps including meat, bones, and dairy, food-soiled paper like greasy pizza boxes, and certified compostable products. Trash such as wrappers, diapers, pet waste, plastic, glass, and metal stays out. Compost is picked up every week on your recycling day, in a DSNY brown bin or any labeled bin of 55 gallons or less with a secure lid.

Separating compostables is mandatory. Starting April 1, 2025, building owners who don’t keep compostable material out of the trash can be fined. Before that date, the law called for written warnings.

The change comes from a 2023 law sponsored by Council Member Shahana Hanif, introduced at the request of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, and co-introduced by most of the Council. Mayor Eric Adams’s administration had announced a borough-by-borough rollout in February 2023, run by Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch. The Council passed the law on June 8, 2023, and it became law in July without Adams’s signature. It set two deadlines: curbside collection in at least 30 sanitation districts by October 2, 2023, and in all remaining districts by October 7, 2024.

The point is to pull food scraps and yard waste out of the regular trash so they can be processed into fertilizer or biogas instead of thrown away.