Groups Creating More Green Spaces in NYC

There are various organizations within NYC devoted to increasing the number of green spaces available to NYC residents. To help with this effort, the DSNY Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling supplies these organizations with high quality compost from its composting sites.

The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (Parks) is responsible for most of NYC's green spaces such as parks, beaches, athletic fields, and nature centers and is by far the largest recipient of DSNY compost. Parks uses this compost all over the city to improve the overall soil quality for both new and old plantings.

Through Greenstreets, a collaborative effort between Parks and the NYC Department of Transportation that emerged out of PlaNYC , vacant traffic islands and medians are filled with trees, shrubs, and groundcover. DSNY compost plays a critical role in building up the soil base in these formerly barren sites.

GreenThumb, another Parks initiative, is the largest community gardening program in the country, with over 600 member gardens serving 20,000 city residents. GreenThumb provides materials and technical assistance to community gardeners throughout all five boroughs. Many of the GreenThumb compost workshops are taught by NYC Compost Project staff members.

The goal of MillionTreesNYC (launched by Parks and spurred on by PlaNYC ) is to plant and care for one million new trees across NYC's five boroughs over the next decade. DSNY compost has been used by MillionTreesNYC programs (such as the stewarship corps and the training program ) to help better the soil for newly planted trees throughout all five boroughs.

In addition to working with Parks on the GreenStreets Program, the NYC Department of Transportation is also involved in helping to advance the work of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. This initiative aims to create a 14-mile recreational and transportation path that runs from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. DSNY compost is used as the base soil medium for these new plantings along the greenway, which feed another critical component of the Greenway Initiative, namely, the Green Collar Mentoring Series.

The Green Collar Mentoring series is an outreach and education program of the Horticultural Society of New York that provides neighborhood youth the opportunity to gain knowledge of green careers while gaining hands on experience working on the new waterfront green space. DSNY compost helps enhance their understanding of sustainable landscaping and furthers their knowledge of other sustainable employment opportunities with different NYC agencies.