{"id":714,"date":"2025-04-18T14:33:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T18:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/?p=714"},"modified":"2025-04-21T14:37:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T18:37:35","slug":"sanitation-pauses-fines-for-failing-to-compost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/2025\/04\/18\/sanitation-pauses-fines-for-failing-to-compost\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanitation Pauses Fines for Failing to Compost"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City<\/a> \u2013 By Samantha Maldonado<\/a> | April 18, 2025<\/p>\n

The Adams administration announced Friday it is relaxing its enforcement on violations of a new citywide composting<\/a> mandate, just weeks after it began issuing fines.<\/p>\n

Since October, all city residents have been required to separate their food waste and yard trimmings from other trash, and owners of properties with at least four apartments have had to set out bins for curbside collection. The Department of Sanitation began issuing fines for noncompliance on April 1.<\/p>\n

But the top deputy to Mayor Eric Adams directed the department to issue fines only to buildings with more than 30 apartments that have already received more than four warnings for violations. (Less than 3% of residences in the city have more than 30 units, according to the Department of City Planning.) This new policy will be in place until at least the end of the year, according to the mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The Department of Sanitation reported it collected a record 3.6 million pounds of organic material during the second week of April. The previous record was 3.2 million pounds of organics collected over a week in November 2024, during the height of leaf season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, mayoral spokesperson Liz Garcia said the pause is intended to provide further education to New Yorkers about how to set aside food scraps and yard waste for collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will conduct additional outreach and education on composting before issuing fines to the most persistent offenders who repeatedly refuse to compost,\u201d she said. \u201cThrough the end of the year, we will be distributing additional education materials and holding more community events about how to sort out waste.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pushing the change was Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, as Hell Gate first reported<\/a> and sources confirmed to THE CITY. Mastro had wanted DSNY to stop enforcement completely, citing a lack of public awareness about the requirements. The loosened enforcement regime came as a compromise, according to a source in the administration familiar with discussions.<\/p>\n

Mayor Eric Adams had been a strident supporter of the citywide composting mandates, especially as a strategy to fight rats. Amid some complaints from building managers<\/a> that separating organics from other waste would be onerous, DSNY defended its enforcement as a means to ensure compliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made participation easy \u2014 now it\u2019s up to New Yorkers to follow the law or face a summons,\u201d DSNY Acting Commissioner Javier Lojan told the City Council in late March. <\/p>\n

The department says it has issued about 4,000 summonses since April 1.<\/p>\n

Building owners who received summonses won\u2019t have theirs withdrawn in the wake of the new policy, according to DSNY, but can ask for a dismissal at a hearing.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who was the lead sponsor on the citywide composting bill<\/a> that became law, slammed the mayor and Mastro for undermining the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is another overstep from the Administration and a blatant disregard for the will of the Council,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cThis constantly shifting guidance undermines public trust, decreases community buy-in, and ultimately threatens the program\u2019s success and long-term cost savings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Shaun Abreu, chair of the Council sanitation committee, also criticized the administration for undermining the city\u2019s zero-waste goals and for its funding cuts<\/a> of community groups to do public outreach ahead of the citywide composting roll out. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from New Yorkers across the city \u2014 they want to do the right thing. But the City has to meet them halfway,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cThat means investing real money in education, not outsourcing the job to stretched-thin nonprofits and hoping no one notices the failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samantha MacBride, a sustainability professor at Baruch College who formerly worked for DSNY, welcomed the new focus on educating residents in lieu of issuing fines. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey haven\u2019t done enough outreach and the fact that they are now acknowledging this is positive,\u201d she said. \u201cTargeting large complexes and repeat offenders is exactly the right kind of thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The City<\/a> \u2013 By Samantha Maldonado<\/a> | April 18, 2025<\/p>\n

The Adams administration announced Friday it is relaxing its enforcement on violations of a new citywide composting<\/a> mandate, just weeks after it began issuing fines.<\/p>\n

Since October, all city residents have been required to separate their food waste and yard trimmings from other trash, and owners of properties with at least four apartments have had to set out bins for curbside collection.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/a><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ej-composting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}