Buy a Bin, says Mayor Bloomberg

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is taking a big step, or rather dig, towards environmental action. We promise it’s not with bicycles taking up precious parking spaces, but a step that gets right to the root—composting.

An ambitious, yet very necessary plan has been set asking New York City residents to compile their food scraps, and drop them off into compost bins. This means buying a good, sturdy bin to stick under your sink (next to your recycling bin we hope you have), and throwing in fruit and vegetables scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells and even tea bags.

Where is all this compost kept? In many buildings, composting bins are kept in trash rooms and are emptied daily. Helping Mother Nature doesn’t have to smell!

With food waste and other organic materials making up a third of our city’s waste, can’t you see this being a positive future environmental impact? Last year, NYC spent $336 million on ridding trash to landfills in the Midwest. It would cost less to collect and export food scraps to eventually turn into fertilizer rather than dumping these organic materials into landfills. This could potentially save the city $100 million a year, and as Mayor Bloomberg says, “That’s good for the environment, and for taxpayers.”

This composting plan can turn into an urban trend for other cities. There has been an unexpectedly high level of participation in the past couple weeks, and we hope to see this participation grow!

It is expected that by 2015, this plan will be mandatory to all residents. Now, mandatory sounds a little scary, however, we assure you putting together food scraps into a separate bin under your sink doesn’t have to stink that bad. When you’re taking out your garbage or recycling, take your composting along too. Make it part of your routine, otherwise your food will be part of the 1.2 million tons of food waste that goes into landfills from NYC alone.