Clean City FAQs

“Curbside composting” refers to the collection of organic material – food scraps, food-soiled paper, leaves, and soil – separate from what’s traditionally collected in NYC: trash, and the recycling materials glass, plastic, metal, and paper.

Curbside Composting is now available year-round in all five boroughs following a rollout that started in Queens and then Brooklyn.

This is a free weekly service - DSNY collects your food scraps, food-soiled paper, and yard waste each week on your regular recycling day. You can learn more at nyc.gov/curbsidecomposting.

Additionally, you can find a drop-off location or Smart Composting Bin near you at nyc.gov/dropfoodscraps.

You can get started composting by setting aside your compostable waste when cooking, or any other time you have food scraps and leftovers. If you don’t have a compost bin, here’s a pro tip: put food scraps in your freezer until you’re able to get to a drop-off site or a Smart Compost Bin!

According to a 2023 study by DSNY, one-third of what New Yorkers put in trash is material that could be composted. The goal of curbside composting is to stop this organic material from being sent to trash landfills, where it decomposes into methane, a harmful gas, and instead collect it for processing into compost for parks and gardens, or into renewable energy and fertilizer.

Besides the positive environmental impact of composting, the use of sealed bins to store organic material might also help reduce New York’s rat population.

From DSNY: “Curbside composting is an important part of the city’s war on rats. By removing food waste from black bags and putting it into sealed containers, we take rat food off our streets. And if rats can’t feed, they can’t breed."

"When you don't separate that material, it sits in your trash. It attracts rats. It goes to a landfill and it becomes nothing,” says Joshua Goodman, DSNY’s deputy commissioner. “When you participate in the Curbside Composting program, it either becomes renewable energy to heat and power homes or it becomes soil, compost – usable soil to add to our community gardens, to our parks, to your home gardens as well."

Some of it goes to compost facilities in New Jersey or to a site in Staten Island, which recently expanded to take in more food waste. At the latter, the material is set into 10-foot-tall rows (called windrows), where it gets turned and aerated over time and broken down into finished compost. It may be sold to landscapers or given away to residents and community groups.

If you'd like free compost - you can find a pickup point close to you here.

Some of the waste goes to anaerobic digesters, large sealed containers that store it while bacteria break it down. The largest hub for this process is in Newtown Creek in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where “eggs” convert the waste into biogas (a renewable fuel) that can go into the grid to power homes.

(NYT - article 10/824)

Curbside Composting is now available to NYC residents in all five boroughs following a rollout that started in Queens and then Brooklyn.

It is the nation's largest residential curbside organics program.

You can include ALL leaf and yard waste, food scraps, and food-soiled paper. This includes meat, bones, dairy, prepared foods, and greasy uncoated paper plates and pizza boxes.

You can use any bin (55 gallons or less in size) as long as it has a secure lid. Don’t forget to label it “Compost” so that the Sanitation Workers can see it. You can order free decals and signage from DSNY.

Buildings can use their own bins or order a free one from DSNY. Trash bins, including compost bins, are also available at a favorable price through DSNY's partnership here.

We recommend lining your bin with a clear plastic liner (it doesn’t need to be compostable). When you’re ready to set the bin out at the curb for collection, leave the bag in the bin, but tie it closed and make sure the lid to your bin is shut securely. Using a bag not only helps keep your bin clean, but also helps prevent spillage during collection — keeping your street clean!

Compost should be set out for collection in bins that have a secure lid, that hold 55 gallons or less, and that are lined with a clear plastic bag, a compostable bag or a paper bag.

You can also place smaller bags of compostable materials inside the bag that lines your bin.

There is a sorting process with machines that separate bags from organic material. This is one of the innovations that makes this program easy for all New Yorkers to participate in.

Curbside Composting is mandatory. If your building isn’t participating, they are subject to fines.

Failure to comply will result in fines starting in April 2025. For buildings with one to eight units, the first offense will result in a $25 fine, while buildings with nine or more units will be fined $100.

 Property owners and managers of buildings can request a presentation for their residents, to have DSNY staff attend their event and help educate people about recycling, Curbside Composting, and other DSNY programs.

Residents can report residential building owners who fail to provide tenants with a designated area for trash or recycling storage.

Mandatory separation of compostable materials is currently in a warning period, with fines for non-compliance starting in Spring 2025. 

Beginning spring 2025, fines for non-compliance will be enforced for houses and buildings with 1 to 8 units as follows:

• $25 for the first offense

• $50 for the second offense

• $100 for the third and subsequent offenses

Some businesses are currently required to compost. Learn more about the requirements on the DSNY site.

There are about 400 Smart Bins across the city, available for anyone to use at any time. They accept the same items as curbside service.

They are called "smart bins" for a reason. You’ll need to download an app to use them. You can do that here to find and unlock our Smart Composting Bins around the city.

Smart Composting Bins accept all food scraps, plant waste, and food-soiled paper. This includes meat, bones, dairy, prepared foods, and greasy uncoated paper plates and pizza boxes.

(Please do not compost any recyclable items, or any trash such as diapers, personal hygiene products, animal waste, wrappers, non-paper packaging, and foam products.)

Wondering why they’re locked? Locking them makes the practice of composting more intentional and prevents the compostable material from being contaminated with trash.

A biodegradable material is completely organic, and will break down on its own. A compostable material, like a manufactured compostable paper or a compostable cup, requires more specific conditions to break down into compost. In either case, in our urban setting, organic breakdown of both biodegradable and compostable waste won't just happen on the side of the street or in a tree bed — in other words, just because something is biodegradable, like an apple core or a banana peel, doesn't mean that you can chuck that item on the street! Please place all such waste in a compost bin, if not the trash.