Segment on #composting begins on @BrianLehrer NOW! #saveourcompost featuring Christine Datz-Romero from @lesecologyctr

Curbside collection for 3.5M households is now GONE. The NYC Compost Program and GrowNYC programs combined managed 150 food scrap drop locations across 5 boroughs: 6 community compost sites, threatened with elimination by the budget cuts

A lot of community gardens have also started collecting and processing, but they are limited by capacity (volunteer hours and physical space), also commercial haulers are being hired, and #microhaulers (woo, shout out!!) @BKROT #reclaimedorganics keep compost local #greenjobs

Most of the compost workers whose jobs have been cut will remain without work even after the $2.9M funds are restored.

More effort is needed! We need mandatory organics collection in NYC: climate change is real, and sending organics to landfills is stupid. Call your City Reps.

Composting in the time of COVID: are there other cities across the US or the globe that have figured this out?

YES! And lots of cities did NOT choose to cut funds for their compost programs due to the pandemic. Penny wise and pound foolish!!

We spend $300M to export our waste

@BrianLehrer mentions TONS OF CALLERS who want to share their stories - thank you, NYC, for caring so much about community composting, waste diversion, recycling, and urban sustainability.

Your participation in the #SaveOurCompost advocacy work is what led to $2.9M ...

Organics have a disproportionate impact re: methane emissions from landfills (And also incredibly negative impacts on #environmentaljustice communities where waste transfer stations and other infrastructure is located)

Businesses that compost are not generating more waste, it's just a different category of waste. So if a business starts composting, they'll be putting much LESS waste in their trash bags, and can find savings there, which can be redistributed to cover the cost of composting.

$2.9M was restored to the City budget thanks to the efforts of NYC's compost community.

We must not stop here: these funds will support some restoration of programs that have been shuttered, but most of NYC's amazing compost infrastructure (especially the people power)...

$2.9M in the budget doesn't restore everything, but it will help to restore some programs. #communitycomposting #localcomposting #resilience #zerowastenyc @NYCzerowaste

So, what can people do, if their community compost options have been eliminated?

Some funds were reinstated. The Compost Project, @NYCSanitation are currently discussing how to get the $2.9M distributed so some local sites can reopen as drop offs.