City pauses composting fines for smaller buildings until the end of the year
The city says it is shifting their focus to fining larger buildings that consistently refuse to compost.
City Hall announced on Friday that it is pausing composting fines for buildings 30 units and smaller until the end of the year.
The city says it is shifting their focus to fining larger buildings that consistently refuse to compost.
For larger buildings, the fine for four or more offenses will temporarily decrease to $100. Before the pause, the fine was previously $300.
During this hiatus, the mayor's office it is are going to ramp up outreach in communities across the city. It says this is all in an effort to educate New Yorkers on the importance of composting and how to do it the right way.
Composting remains mandatory. Compostable materials include meat, bones, shells and dairy.
According to DSNY data, in the first two weeks of enforcement citywide, the agency issued more than 3,600 summonses and collected $6.1 million pounds of compostable materials.
The mayor's office released the following statement:
"Make no mistake: Composting continues to be mandatory in New York City. Mayor Adams has led by example on this issue and composts daily, whether he is at Gracie Mansion or at City Hall, but he has also heard from New Yorkers across all five boroughs — including at town halls — who still have questions about this extremely important program. In an effort to facilitate even higher participation, we will conduct additional outreach and education on composting before issuing fines to the most persistent offenders who repeatedly refuse to compost. Through the end of the year, we will be distributing additional education materials and holding more community events about how to sort out waste."
