Compost Bins To Line Astoria's 31st Avenue By Friday, DSNY Says

ASTORIA, QUEENS — By Friday, 16 new Bigbelly bins will line Astoria's 31st Avenue, but unlike the city's other trash cans, these aren't for trash.

The first-of-their-kind Smart Bins are for compost; food scraps, tea bags, and wilted bodega flowers alike, which residents can drop off at the bins 24/7 as part of a new pilot program. In order to prevent people from dumping trash in the bins, neighbors need to sign up and use a special key card to unlock the compost bins.

A spokesperson for the Department of Sanitation, which is spearheading the program, told Patch that the agency is rolling out one Smart Bin program in Astoria and another slightly different program in Lower Manhattan in order to "make a determination about possible opportunities for [compost] expansion."

After suspending municipal composting amid the pandemic, New York recently reinstated its "opt-in" curbside composting program, where city-sanctioned compost bins are picked up alongside residents' trash and recycling bags in neighborhoods with enough interest.

Some advocates, however, have argued that the city should expand its composting program, or make it mandatory, in order to more effectively reduce the impacts of climate change — especially in working class communities of color, which process a disproportionate amount of the city's trash.

The DSNY spokesperson told Patch that climate gains are at the heart of the pilot Smart Bin program. For instance, the bins are centered around one avenue in Astoria in order to limit driving.

"The climate gains of composting are lost if we need to run too many trucks to collect the material!" they said.

While some neighbors complained about the bins still being far from their homes, the Department of Sanitation chose 31st Avenue as its pilot program site because so many nearby neighbors already expressed interest in composting.

"We know there is an interest in turning food waste into high-quality compost" in the area, the spokesperson said.

Related Article: City Council Candidate Wants Mandatory Composting