New York City Implements Mandatory Organic Waste Separation to Reduce Environmental Harm

José Navarro works at a warehouse in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and although he is not required to separate organic waste from plastics and other waste, he does so conscientiously for the well-being of the planet.

“Okay, we can all take a little time to get it out, separate it, ‘so’ it’s not that complicated,” Navarro said. “What happens is that we complicate our lives for any little thing and that is not so difficult to do. After everything is done to help the environment, it is fine, right now the environment is really deteriorated.”

The law approved Thursday by the municipal legislature will make it mandatory for New Yorkers to separate organic waste from common garbage to compost it.

It is a more ambitious plan than the current program to separate organic waste, created by Mayor Erik Adams, which is only voluntary for city residents.

This new law will go into effect for all more than 8.8 million New Yorkers in April 2025.

Venancio Valerio works in a restaurant in Manhattan and says that he is already used to separating the garbage: food scraps such as fruits, vegetables, meat, bones and dairy products go into a brown container.

“Well, they do force us in the restaurant, they force us to separate the garbage,” said Valerio. “We have the plastic can, the garbage can, that is, let’s say general garbage and organic garbage, which is vegetables, food that is for the garbage, everything in its place.”

With the “Zero waste” program, the city intends to create more processing plants for organic waste to convert it into compost. For now the more than 8 million pounds of organic waste, which also includes plants, tree leaves, branches and grass, is sent for processing to sites in NJ, Massachusetts and Green Point, Brooklyn.

Most of the city’s organic waste that ends up in city dumps or landfills produces environmentally harmful methane gas.

The mandate of the law will begin as of June 30 in Queens County and will be mandatory for all NYC residents as of April 2025.