Read the full article here.

By Jacob Wallace

Budget cuts to New York City’s community composting program are “unacceptable,” Council Member Shaun Abreu, the new chair of the city’s Sanitation and Solid Waste Management committee, said during his first hearing of the session Tuesday. Restoration of the program’s funding, along with other organics issues, containerization and oversight of the city’s commercial waste zones are priorities for his committee and the council, said Abreu, who serves a district in Northern Manhattan.

The city has a target to divert all reusable waste, including organics, from landfills and incinerators by 2030. But a reversal of the cuts and additional actions need to be taken to meet that goal, Abreu said. 

“The city already spends hundreds of millions of dollars on organics right now by sending it to landfills and incinerators,” Abreu said at the hearing. “With organics collection set to go citywide by the end of this year, it’s incumbent upon us to strengthen the programming that we know works and keep fighting for expansion, transparency, and stakeholder involvement in what could be the most successful organic diversion program in the country, if done right.”