June Collections In Glendale, Maspeth, M.V.
Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village residents will get to recycle their food waste in the Sanitation Department’s voluntary organics collection program beginning this June.
According to information provided by Community Board 5, the Sanitation Department will mail advisories in May to residents regarding the pilot program’s impending start. Thereafter, homeowners will receive free receptacles and starter kits to separate food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard waste from ordinary trash.
One- and two-family homes and small apartment houses of up to nine units are automatically enrolled in the initiative, which aims to improve the environment and reduce the amount of trash the city exports to landfills elsewhere.
Brochures about the organics collection program will be sent to all of Glendale the week of May 12, followed the next week with a door hanger. These documents will be delivered to portions of Maspeth and Middle Village approximately two weeks after the Glendale distribution.
Two areas of Middle Village are participating in the pilot project. The northern area is generally bounded by the CSX rail line on the west; Juniper Boulevard North, 80th Street and Furmanville Avenue on the south; Woodhaven Boulevard and the Long Island Rail Road Main line on the east; and the Long Island Expressway on the north.
The southern Middle Village area bounded by Metropolitan and Cooper avenues between 73rd Place and 80th Street is also included in the pilot program.
The Maspeth section is generally bounded by Calamus and Maurice avenues on the north; the Long Island Expressway; 66th Street; Brown Place and 68th Street on the west; Eliot Avenue on the south; and the CSX rail line on the east.
Afterward, the Sanitation Department will deliver outdoor bins and starter kits to participating residences. One- and two-family homes will receive a 13-gallon brown outdoor bin; apartment houses will get a 21-gallon brown outdoor container.
Sanitation Department officials noted at previous meetings the cans have locking lids and ridges specifically designed to keep out rodents and other critters.
The bins do not have to be lined, but the Sanitation Department noted paper bags or compostable liners may be used.
All starter kits include a small, plastic bin to store food waste in the kitchen, a detailed brochure about the program and coupons. Starter kits will be provided to each unit in the small apartment houses.
The Sanitation Department is scheduled to deliver the bins and kits in Glendale between May 27 and June 6, and in Maspeth and Middle Village between June 9 and 17. Collections will begin in Glendale on June 2 and in Maspeth and Middle Village on June 16.
Participants in the program can place food scraps, food-soiled paper (such as napkins or used coffee filters) or yard waste in the outdoor bins and leave them on the curb for their normal recycling collection day.
Launched last year in Brooklyn and Staten Island, the organics collection program aims to encourage composting and reduce the amount of garbage the city exports every year. Deputy Sanitation Commissioner Ron Gonen stated during January’s Board 5 meeting the city spends $336 million annually to ship out garbage; approximately $85 million is spent to export organic waste.
Much of the organic waste collected by the DSNY will be converted at local processing centers into compost for reuse in public parks and gardens.
The pilot program reportedly runs through July 2015 and, depending on its effectiveness, may be expanded citywide and become a mandatory program.
Anyone who does not receive bins and/or starter kits should visit www.nyc.gov/wasteless/contact or call 311 one week after the scheduled delivery. Any unused recycling bins left out by property owners will be collected by the Sanitation Department.
For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/organics.
