2009 Fall Leaf Collection Crisis: NYCLeaves to the Rescue!

Posted: November 14th, 2009 | Author: Derek Denckla

THE 2009 LEAF COLLECTION PROBLEM

You may be surprised — as I was– that NYC is neither collecting nor composting leaves this Autumn.

According to NYCWasteLe$$, the curbside Fall Leaf Collection program has been suspended until further notice due to budget cuts.  To make matters worse, the Compost Givebacks Program has been suspended as well, lacking leaves as raw material to make more compost.  

That’s a shame.  From 2000 to 2008, NYC Department of Sanitation composted an average 20,000 tons of leaves each year. Leaves were collected each autumn during a four-week period beginning in mid November. Formerly, the Compost Giveback program provided residents free, high-quality compost from the Fresh Kills and Soundview sites.

In 2009, however, Fall leaves will be collected with regular household refuse on regularly scheduled refuse collection days. Paper lawn and leaf bags are no longer required because leaves will be collected as regular trash. 

Why is this a problem?  According the NYCWasteLe$$:

Though New York is one of the world’s densest and most populated areas, nearly two thirds of the city consists of low-rise housing with tree-lined streets, front gardens, and backyards—all of which produce leaves and yard waste.

If it’s not composted, it’s landfill.

Personally, I was thoroughly bummed at the sight of hundreds of bags of leaves placed by the curb in my neighborhood, including my own nine –gulp!– trash bags full of leaves. I do not have the capacity to compost this quantity of waste myself. Unable to bear the thought of adding leaves to landfill, I removed my bags of leaves from the curb, determined find somewhere to compost them.

THE COMPOSTING SOLUTION

When faced with an urban gardening question, I did what I usually do: I called the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Unfortunately, the Botanic Gardens can compost only the leaves from its own trees. However, I learned about an coordinated effort by community gardens around the city to compost leaves and other yard waste called: NYC Leaves: Project Leaf Drop.  

NYC Leaves ”is a volunteer-run, neighborhood-based coalition of gardeners and greening partners who are harvesting residential leaves for compost this Fall.” Through the excellent and helpful NYCLeaves site, I found out that the nearby Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden was accepting leaves on Saturday November 14, 2009. Eureka!

I marked my calendar, raked some more leaves in the days between and was (almost) euphoric today when I dropped the leaves off today. Upon my arrival, garden volunteers weighed the leaves to document the yield and the need for the City to fund the leaf collection program again. It wasn’t that much more effort than the actual yard clean-up.

SIMPLE STEPS TO LEAF COMPOSTING

Here is what you can do to solve your own leaf guilt:

(1) RAKE your leaves.  Bag them.  Store them.

(2) FIND a community garden near you that is composting leaves.  Here is a special list of participating gardens in Brooklyn, BKDECAY. 

(3) SAVE THE DATE – The next scheduled leaf drop-off dates are Saturday and Sunday, November 21 and 22, 2009 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.  

(4) DROP leaves at a nearby garden.  Pumpkins too.  See below.

(5) OTHER COMPOSTABLES?

What about pumpkins and mums and other fall decoration? I took these items along in a separate bag, hoping I could compost them. Luckily, the Wyckoff-Bond Garden accepts such items but not all community gardens will.

NEXT STEPS: TAKE COMPOST ACTION!

Here are some other actions that NYCLeaves reccommends doing to solve The 2009 Leaf Problem: 

(1) Sign the Petition to bring back city-wide leaf collection and composting! 

(2) Enlist a Community Garden – Ask your local community garden if it would like to participate in NYCLeaves and you may be able to drop off leaves earlier than a scheduled collection date.  Most community gardens already have composting bins. Note: Do not to leave bags outside the gate of the garden (or risk a hefty fine).

(3) Volunteer with your local garden on drop-off days.  At least three volunteers are needed at each participating garden, so take this opportunity to help the greening of your community. Great way to meet your neighbors, too.

(4) Spread the word at your local library, school, church, arts collective CSA or BID. For flyer ideas, check out NYCLeaves Tools and Printable Flyers to post around your block.

Although a few bags of leaves each Fall may seem like a small amount of additional waste in a year of creating tons of residential garbage, composting leaves is an important way to recapture the valuable energy and nutrients created by local plants. I also believe that widespread composting represents an important behavioral change that can help bring about a mental shift, conceiving of urban space’s potential for making food from plants in the City.

Filed under: Composting, Urban Agriculture | Tags: BKDECAY, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Community Garden, Compost, Compost Givebacks, Fall Leaf Composting Program, Fertilizer, Fresh Kills, NYC Department of Sanitation, NYCLeaves, NYCWasteLe$$, Project Leaf Drop, Soundview, Trash | 2 Comments »

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