Check out Frank’s blog on gardening in NYC:

http://nycgarden.blogspot.com/

I think what you’re talking about is community composting; they do it at several community gardens in the Slope and elsewhere. The problem is that it requires a composting infrastructure, which someone must set up and maintain, and public outdoor space. As mentioned elsewhere on this site, Flatbush is sorely lacking in public space for these sorts of projects (although there are rumors of a community garden on the way… stay tuned here for details!).

But what i’m REALLY referring to here is at the municipal level: Department of Sanitation curbside pickup of compostable food scraps. These systems exist in San Francisco, Berkeley, Seattle, and probably other places I’m not aware of. But I can pretty confidently say that NYC has never had anything resembling such a system. I’m also confident that we will have to adopt one in the future, as carting this stuff out of state is just too expensive.

drop by for a rant anytime!

as for composting at home, it is not easy to do in a small apartment, but i am currently doing a trial run of bokashi composting and will post my findings soon.

Most plastics, with a few exceptions, are very difficult to recycle into high quality products, and end up being “downcycled”, or reborn as un-recyclable products like blister packs, polar fleece and carpeting. as most products have not been explicitly designed with their end of life in mind.

Refillable containers are the way to go. It is criminal that glass containers are crushed instead of refilled.

Municipal composting is great but you can also do it at home, it just takes a bit more work.

Sorry for the rant.

one of those arcane NYC recycling rules that only a long belabored stare at the recycling posters will reveal. we do it, so you don’t have to!