The People's Money (2022-2023)
Your Money, Your Community, Your Voice.
What problem would you like to solve?
Increase the number of buildings in Washington Heights with access to New York City Department of Sanitation’s Brown Bins for Curbside Compost Pick-Up to reduce food waste and keep compostable material off landfills.
Why is it important to solve? Why is it relevant for the community?
Composting is important for the environment because it helps to keep food waste off of landfills. When we compost, we reduce the amount of methane gasses released into the atmosphere. The New York City Department of Sanitation rolled out their Curbside Compost Pick-Up program, but it is not available in all neighborhoods. Many people do not know this service is available, and many people do not currently separate their organic/food waste because they don’t know the importance of composting and/or they don’t currently have access to the NYDS brown bins in their homes.
In addition, the current process to get the brown bins in buildings relies too much on residents’ and landlords’ personal interest and initiative, which becomes an issue if neither are aware of the importance of composting.
What idea do you have to address the problem?
1-Identify which buildings do not have the Brown Bins Compost Curbside Pick-Up Service.
2-Change the approach for attaining the Brown Bins- introduce the brown bins in every building in the neighborhood to start to build awareness within residents.
3- Roll out an efficient educational program for tenants, landlords, building superintendents, commercial establishments, schools, and community organizers to increase awareness of the importance of composting and of residents’ participation by separating food scraps at home and work through the use of the brown bins.
4- Such educational campaigns could be ran by college students through the creation of internships, or by community organizations by offering employment and volunteering opportunities.
5- Develop public policy that requires buildings to compost.
Who would that help?
More Washington Heights tenants will have access to the NYC Department of Sanitation’s Brown Bins at their trash area for easy disposal of food scraps that will then be turned into compost.
An educational campaign will create jobs, student internships, and/or volunteer opportunities that help develop civic organizing, leadership, and communication skills.
This project also increases New York City residents’ global warming awareness, teaches children and adults to be more climate-conscious, and creates ecological empathy by reconnecting people to their food source and food chain, and ultimately reducing NYC’s carbon footprint.
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