PSA!
All I really want is a compost open more than 1x/week so my freezer doesn’t get all crowded with old onion peels and egg shells. Granted this isn’t my borough but hopefully many of you will benefit.
This may be a good motivator for me to finish the song I made up about dropping off my compost at the Grand Army Plaza farmers’ market last week. I call it “Brooklyn Boy at the Farmers Market.” If you remember the great hits of yesteryear, like Hipster Boy at the Gym and Every Time I Think About You it Makes Me Sneeze, you really have something to get excited about it.
Compost delivers enormous environmental benefits, increasing the nutrient content and moisture retention of soil and eliminating the need for chemical fertilizers. Composting turns food and yard waste, which make up 20% of residential waste, into something that can be used to nourish gardens that beautify our city.
If you’d like to start a composting program in your neighborhood, my office might be able to help. For the second year I am partnering with the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB) and Citizens Committee of New York City to offer grants for community, small-scale composting initiatives.
Under the program, grants of up to $750 will be awarded in 2012 to community groups to start or grow neighborhood composting programs. Groups eligible for funding include community associations, community gardens, friends of park groups, housing development organizations, nonprofits, public schools, colleges and universities, hospitals and private businesses.
Learn how to apply at my website, at mbpo.org/composting.
