Compost service in Bronx and on Staten Island delayed due to budget cuts

The expansion of curbside compost pickup to Staten Island and the Bronx will be delayed by seven months due to budget cuts, city budget officials announced on Thursday.

The setback comes after Mayor Eric Adams ordered all city agencies to slash their budgets by 5% amid the mounting migrant crisis, which is estimated to cost upwards of $5 billion this fiscal year.

The city has a roughly $107 billion budget.

The composting program was to become mandatory for all New Yorkers by March 2025. Currently only Queens and Brooklyn have boroughwide voluntary compost collection service. The expansion of the service to Staten Island and the Bronx, which was scheduled to begin March 2024, will be delayed to October of that year, sanitation department spokesperson Joshua Goodman confirmed.

The new timeline means Staten Island and the Bronx will receive curbside compost pickup at the same time as Manhattan, Goodman said.

The delay is a blow to one of Adams’ signature policies. He has touted the compost collection program as the largest of its kind in the country. The service is a key component of his war on rats.

Prior to the announcement, Adams spokesperson Charles Lutvak cited the mayor’s comments earlier this week about the impending cuts.

“It's going to be extremely painful for New Yorkers, and that is why we continue to say we need help,” Adams told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday.

Harry Nespoli, president of the Teamsters Local 831 sanitation union, said he was unaware of the expected cuts. But he said the mixed messaging from City Hall about compost is “kind of foolish.”

The Adams administration previously faced criticism for restarting residential compost collection service in Queens late last year, only to pause the service during the winter.

“You put it on, you take it off. You put it on, you take it off,” Nespoli said. “All you’re doing is confusing the public now.”

Eric Goldstein of the Natural Resources Defense Council said he had expected aspects of the composting program would be cut.

“What I can say now is that targeting cost-effective composting programs would be penny wise and pound foolish, especially with the price tag for exporting organics to out-of-city landfills and incinerators costing taxpayers over $200 million a year,” Goldstein said.