Thursday, May 21, 2020

Roosevelt Island Residents Work Together To Bring Food Scrap Compost Drop Off Collection Bin Back, You Can Help By Taking Survey, Sign Petition, Submit Testimony And Pick Up A Shovel

Roosevelt Islanders were very happy with the return of our Saturday Farmers Market to Good Shepherd Plaza last week. But, many were disappointed that the Roosevelt Island Grow NYC Food Scrap Drop Off Collection Bin


did not return as well due to NYC Coronavirus Budget cuts. According to the NYC Department of Sanitation:
In the face of economic hardship, and to ensure the City can continue to devote resources to essential safety, health, and shelter, and food security needs, the New York City Department of Sanitation announced the suspension of the curbside composting program, beginning May 4, 2020. During the suspension, any food scraps and yard waste set out for composting will be collected as trash. The suspension is currently planned through June 30, 2021...
A Roosevelt Island resident asked yesterday:
I’m reaching out regarding the compost area that would be set up every Saturday by GrowNYC. I was wondering if the island “paper” could look further into this to try and get it back. I’m sure many people like myself miss composting.
Efforts are being made to bring food scrap composting back to Roosevelt Island and you can help.

According to  Green Roosevelt Island Neighbors (GRIN) Anthony Longo and Danika Lam:
Though the city has shut down all organics collection and placed compost funding on the city budget chopping block, sustainable practices like composting remain essential. Never to underestimate the power of one's community, environmentally conscious Roosevelt Islanders are turning to what we can accomplish right in our own neighborhood.

Whether you're looking for a place to drop off food scraps or wouldn't mind taking a shovel to a compost pile, all Roosevelt Island residents are encouraged to fill out our compost interest form at bit.ly/RIcompost as we assess the possibility for future community compost initiatives. Your comments and original ideas are welcome!

Take the Roosevelt Island Interest Form Survey here.

iDig2Learn Founder Christina Delfico reports on what more can be done:

Thursday, May 21st is the Executive Budget Hearing and the push for our elected officials to restore funding for our community composting programs. Since you're most likely at home, please take a moment Today, Thursday, May 21st to send a simple message to restore the Compost Program:

#SaveOurCompost. Continue to fund the nonprofits GrowNYC and the NYC Compost Project. We can't afford to regress.

Over 15,000 people have signed this petition and if each person submits testimony, our elected officials will have no choice but to listen.

As a reminder, please submit testimony in all three of these ways:
Roosevelt Islanders know that working with nature to reduce waste by processing food scraps into valuable soil amending compost makes sense! Thanks!

Ms Delfico adds:
GRIN, iDig2Learn, the RI Community Garden are all working together to assess interested Islanders to find home grown solutions and volunteer to learn more about composting.

iDig2Learn is working to get a commercial compost machine via NYC Participatory Budget and working with the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp's (RIOC) team to all collectively manage waste more efficiently and in a more sustainable environmentally friendly way. And the push for Cornell Tech to get a sustainability grant for RI is part of that with Julia Ferguson of the Garden Club and Michelle Edwards of RIOC and RIRA's Chris Gassman and so many others - a lot of efforts working to unite.
As an example of Roosevelt Islanders environmentally friendly efforts, iDig2Learn's Christina Delfico and GRIN's Anthony Longo shared some "Plant Therapy" with residents at last Saturday's Farmers Market

By ROOSEVELT ISLANDER at 5:03:00 PM

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