NYC Parks and DSNY give 6-month extension for compost site at Queensbridge Park

The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation (NYC Parks) and the New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) have extended the life of parkland composting sites for six more months after a hearing in City Hall last week, reports AMNY.

NYC Parks issued a statement Dec. 18 declaring that the composting site at Queensbridge Park is extended until June 2021, at which time they say they will aid in finding composting a new home elsewhere on “a non-Parks site.”

“As the caretaker of our city’s 30,000 acres of parks—of which 10,000 are natural areas—composting has long been a regular part of our sustainable management practices,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver in an announcement. “In an effort to help Big Reuse continue their composting operations without interruption while they relocate, [NYC] Parks will grant a 6-month extension of their use of Queensbridge Park.”

In response to this announcement, Christine Datz-Romero, Executive Director at Lower East Side Ecology, says that this extension is not a meaningful compromise. “Since parks also does not seem to have immediate plans for the site under the Queensboro bridge and substantial capital investments made to create a cutting-edge compost facility would be lost,” Datz-Romero said.

The Lower East Side Ecology Center is an organization that focuses on urban sustainability through various programs. Datz-Romero disagrees with the park’s eviction to a non-parkland site.

“We firmly believe that community composting belongs in Parks since as an agency Parks not only generates leaf and yard waste but can also greatly benefit from the finished product which is a natural soil amendment to regenerate depleted urban soil to create vibrant green spaces that are more able to soak up storm water and nourish food crops in community garden etc.,” Datz-Romero said.

According to AMNY, activists underscored this sentiment during a Dec. 15 Zoom call with politician and community members, where they rallied to prevent Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYC Parks Department’s proposal to remove public composting sites.

While the extension is not the answer they were looking for, members of this citywide coalition are still pushing to stop this eviction. They believe a removal of composting sites from parks will destroy green jobs, squander public funds, and undermine environmental projects such as the NYC Climate Plan and Zero Waste.