Today, May 29, is National Learn About Compost Day. According to the Roosevelt Island Haki Compost Collective:
What is compost?
Compost is what happens to organic material – like leaf litter and banana peels – when they decompose. If you’ve ever watched your strawberry start to mold in the refrigerator, that is the natural process of organic material decomposition. Any fruit, veggie or herb plant that grew from the Earth breaks down to return nutrients back to the Earth. Though you may not like watching a strawberry get moldy and decompose in your refrigerator, that’s exactly the natural process to return all those nutrients back to the soil.
No waste in nature
Just like hummingbirds reuse spiderwebs to bind their teeny little nests for their babies, nature does not waste valuable material. Decomposing is a natural process. If you’ve ever taken a walk in the woods with soft leaves under your feet that is the first step of the process. Once the leaves fall from the trees, all the nutrients within must be broken down to feed the soil and roots to spur healthy tree growth again. Just imagine if those leaves never broke down. That would mean the leaf litter would be well over our heads and we’d never be able to take a walk in the woods. So go ahead and thank that snail, worm and roly poly for breaking down that organic material the next time you walk in the woods.
Composting in a city
Urban environments like New York City are planting trees but don’t have a lot of forests. Leaders and city residents step up to help the compost process and reduce “wet” waste from clogging the NYC waste stream, or worse, going to landfill. That’s where partners like compost processors Big Reuse and all-volunteer run local group Haki Compost Collective come in.
How do you make compost in a city?
It is actually easier than you think. The recipe is two thirds “browns” or carbon-rich material, such as dry leaves and dead house plants – mixed with one third “greens” or nitrogen-rich items, which is composed of your rainbow-colored veggie and fruit scraps, such as banana peels and apple cores. Once you put those together in a small bin or a larger compost pile it starts to heat up and little decomposers come to the party to help munch down that material. Place a cover or a tarp on top and the process happens a bit faster. When you turn over the pile to add in oxygen you’ll have the right mix which is not too dry and not too wet. Before long, like magic, you will have what gardeners refer to as “black gold,” the most beautiful crumbly compost, which smells like the forest and is filled with nutrients. Basically all the vitamins present in the original veggie and fruit scraps are now in that compost. It may look like dirt but it is compost and only a small amount is needed to add to your houseplants to give them a nutrient boost.
I’m busy. Why should I care about compost?
You shouldn’t care about compost if you don’t like breathing clean air. That might seem extreme, but when you send your banana peels to landfill, they’re trapped as if in a coffin where they cannot break down naturally, but they do create methane gas, which can seep into the air and is reported to be twenty times worse than the carbon dioxide we constantly hear about as a bad air pollutant.
What is compost used for?
The New York City Parks Department and landscapers have learned that if you add compost to the soil, which is often compacted and depleted of nutrients, you actually do not need to purchase any chemical fertilizer, and water absorption is much higher, which is great for the plants, and also reduces city flooding. Compost is so water absorbent that it is now being used at construction sites along highways and stuffed into long fabric sleeves to catch runoff, so as not to disrupt traffic. When compost is added to city sidewalk tree pits, it will also capture more stormwater, avoiding pollutant runoff into rivers and neighboring waterways.
How do I compost on Roosevelt Island?
Thanks to passionate neighbor advocates, Roosevelt Island has one of just a few remaining food scrap drop offs for community compost in NYC. Every Saturday from 9 AM to 2 PM at Motorgate Plaza (near Foodtown) you will find green bins next to the Haki Compost Collective volunteers, ready to receive your fruit and veggie scraps. And we take eggshells, coffee grounds, and some unusual things like mussel shells, which are thin enough to break down as well as giant avocado and mango pits too. In cooperation with RIOC and Big Reuse, our compost processors, those food scraps are taken to create piles which break down, and in about three months that compost is offered back to communities to amend New York City soils.
My building just started a compost program with brown bins. Why should I drop on Saturdays with Haki Compost volunteers in the green bins?
Yes, New York City just started the Brown bin program in residential buildings across New York City’s five boroughs. So you have options! The brown bins are a great place to drop meat bones and dairy and fish. If you’re not mobile or want to stay inside because the weather is fierce, those brown bins will take your organic material. The brown bins also accept plastic, pizza boxes, meat, and fish. All that material gets mixed with our wastewater at Newtown Creek Wastewater facility where it is processed down for methane gas capture. That energy helps fuel the sewage waste water facility, which is a good thing. A percentage of extra methane gas is released into the air and has a shelf life of 10 to 14 years. There is also a byproduct called sludge that they used to sell to farmers for food as fertilizer, however now no farmers will take it because of the plastics infused within. The leftover sludge goes to landfill.
How can I help? Can I volunteer?
Nearly a hundred of your neighbors have at one time or another been part of Haki Compost Collective Volunteers over the years and we would love for you to join us and help out.
I’m too busy. I don’t know if I can volunteer. What exactly do you need?
New Yorkers are busy so that’s why we made it easy to volunteer with Haki Compost Volunteers. Each Saturday the green bins are out from 9 AM to 2 PM. Basically a five hour period. We only ask for volunteers to commit one hour on a Saturday of their choice. For example, if there are four weekends in a month, you can sign up for one hour from 10 to 11 am on the Saturday of your choice. The early shift that takes only 15 minutes to set up the tables and bins is another way to add support. More time to dedicate is always welcome. With enough volunteers, nobody has to do that much. Another way to help is to tell neighbors we want their plant-based food scraps and encourage them to drop those with Haki each Saturday.
I have too many food scraps to save or freeze each week?
If you eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, especially in the summer, you might have a bit too much to store in your freezer or fridge until Saturday so we suggest collecting the last few days of the week and bringing those to us – every scrap helps.
What exactly do I have to do if I want to volunteer with Haki Compost Volunteers?
Each Haki volunteer stands next to the green bins where we have a table with tips and helpful information. Friendly neighbors come up to the green bins and drop their vegetable and fruit scraps into the green bins. They’ve been doing this each Saturday since 2015. It is really fun to greet the public and meet your neighbors. All the “droppers“ are so happy we are assisting in returning their organic material back to the Earth. For those that want an upper arm workout we have a chopper to chop down the fruit and veggie scraps within the bin to make more space to drop. Sometimes neighbors ask questions like “can I put meat or fish or oil or dairy, plastic bags or stickers into the green bins?” and the answer is – “no thank you – those do not break down quick enough or cause vermin attracting scents Big Reuse can not handle.”
We need volunteers!
Please write to HakiCompost@gmail.com or stop by any Saturday from 9 AM to 2 PM and talk to a volunteer. On May 31st there will be a Haki Compost Collective Volunteer Orientation at 9 am and 1 pm so swing on by. You can always talk to any volunteer during Saturday shift times to find out more.
Plus visit the Haki Compost table on Roosevelt Island Day, Saturday June 7th starting at 11 am to learn more.
City budget decisions are happening in June. Please call your council member in the first two weeks of June and urge continued funding for community compost which includes our Roosevelt Island Food Scrap to compost partner program with Big Reuse. Julie Menin is our Roosevelt Island City Council member.
Thanks for taking a moment to read this and learn more about compost.
Here’s a December 2024 interview with volunteers from the Roosevelt Island Haki Compost Collective.