Curbside Composting FAQ

Yes. You can line your bin with clear plastic, paper, or compostable bags to help keep it clean. Use small plastic, paper or compostable bags to drop your daily food scraps inside your lined bin. Do not use black plastic bags.

Using a bin with a secure lid and a clear plastic bag as a liner produces no more odor than when it's in the trash. In fact, frequently placing your compost into a separate container can help reduce odors in your home.

By composting, you help keep your home and neighborhood clean and healthy. When you place your food scraps and food-soiled paper in your compost bin, you reduce the chance of bags breaking open on the curb, causing litter and attracting pests.

To help keep your bin clean:

• Keep the lid shut and tightly secured. Close the bin after every use.
• Use a clear plastic, paper, or compostable bag to line your bin.
• Drain liquids before placing material in the bin.
• Use paper or baking soda at the bottom of your bin to absorb excess moisture.
• Tie the bag closed before putting the bin on the curb for collection.

TIP: Store food scraps in the freezer before emptying them into your building's compost bin.

If you don't already have a compost bin or need additional bins, you can use any labeled bin, (maximum size of 55 gallons) with a secure lid. Download and print a Composting Bin label for your bin.

You can also purchase official brown NYC Compost Bins at bins.nyc:

• 21-Gallon NYC Bin for Compost: Can hold up to 7 three-gallon compost bags.
• 13-Gallon NYC Bin for Compost: Can hold up to 4 three-gallon compost bags.

ALL NYC residents are required to separate food scraps, food-soiled paper, or yard waste from trash. Owners and property managers of buildings with 4 or more units must also provide a designated storage area with clearly labeled compost bins.

If residential property owners, managers, supers, or tenants are not separating compostable material from trash, you can:

• Request a DSNY training, presentation, or site visit.
• Direct them to DSNY's training webinar for building staff.
• Volunteer to help manage the building's compost bin.
• Report a residential building mixing trash with compostable material.
• Find a compost drop-off location at nyc.gov/dropfoodscraps.

NYCHA residents should contact their building super.

Your compostable material is brought to one of several processing facilities in the region, depending on where it was collected:

• Some compostable material is taken to the Staten Island Compost Facility to create a natural fertilizer.
• Some ends up at facilities like the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant where it is processed by mechanical digesters to create biogas (renewable energy) and biosolids (fertilizer).

When organic material goes to landfills, it decomposes, producing methane (a greenhouse gas). Converting your food scraps and yard waste to fertilizer and fuel reduces greenhouse gasses, creates renewable energy, benefits the environmental for all New Yorkers.

Any sites that currently receive DSNY collection for recycling and trash must separate their yard waste, food scraps, and food-soiled paper from the trash. These locations are welcome to compost their food scraps and yard waste on-site. This mandate requires that this material be separated from trash if set out for DSNY collection.

Waste generated by commercial landscapers cannot be left for DSNY collection. Landscapers must take yard waste to a permitted composting facility for proper disposal.

Any business that creates leaf and yard waste, such as a commercial landscaper, and businesses covered by the Commercial Organics Law are required to separate and dispose of organic waste separately from the trash. Learn more about NYC's commercial organics requirements.

NYC residents are eligible to receive free compost made from the food scraps and yard waste we collect from you.

Compost pickup is available from April to September at the Staten Island Compost Facility and our newer Giveback Sites in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Astoria, Queens.

Pop-Up Community Giveback Events are held at locations throughout NYC. Find a Pop-Up Community Giveback Event near you.

Register to get free compost at a DSNY Compost Giveback Site or Pop-Up Community Event.