WINDSOR TERRACE — For three decades, Tom Hinchen has diligently saved his family’s kitchen scraps, yard clippings, and other organic material to make compost for his garden. Now, everyone in New York City must do likewise.
A city ordinance mandating curbside composting went into effect in October 2024, and enforcement started on April 1.
Residents must now separate food scraps, food-soiled paper, and yard waste from their regular trash. Noncompliance can bring fines from the New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY).
If that seems draconian, Hinchen offers a different perspective, that composting is another step toward “care for our common home.”
Sound familiar? It’s part of the complete title for Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on the environment, “Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home,” which celebrates its 10th anniversary on May 24.
“As the Pope said, we need to be concerned about the generations to come,” Hinchen explained. “So, if we refrain from using more than we need, then we’re helping to conserve the resources of the Earth for future generations.”
Hinchen, a retired English teacher from Windsor Terrace, is also a founding member of the Laudato Si’ ministry at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Bay Ridge. He urged fellow New Yorkers to think of mandatory composting as an opportunity to help God’s creation and the people who inhabit it.
“One of the big points of Laudato Si’ is not only hearing the cry of the Earth, but hearing the cry of the poor,” Hinchen said. “When we reduce our use, then what we don’t use is there for other people.”
The New York City Council passed the “Zero Waste Act” on June 8, 2023.
Related: Bay Ridge Parish Embraces Laudato Si’ With Ministry Focused on Environment
The package of bills aims to keep landfills free of the estimated 11,000 tons of residential waste produced daily by New Yorkers, according to a press release. The program positions the City to become a “national leader on zero waste policies, (and) advances the City’s efforts to fight the climate crisis,” according to a press release.
Hinchen said food waste festering in landfills generates methane gas, which, according to NASA, is a major contributor to climate change. Still, residents don’t have to start a garden to have a place to put compost. DSNY’s website states that “organics” from the kitchen or yard must go into labeled bins.
The receptacles must be 55 gallons or less with a secure, rodent-proof lid. The brown bins available from DSNY are approved. All compost bins can be lined with paper, clear plastic, or “compostable” green bags to keep them clean. However, a liner is not required, just recommended by DSNY.
Property owners or managers with four or more units must make compost bins available to tenants or risk DSNY citations.
Hinchen offered a second way to rethink mandatory composting.
“It’s really not that difficult,” Hinchen said. “It’s a matter of changing habits. We’ve all gotten accustomed to separating our plastic and our metal and our paper and cardboard. We can do this as well.”