On July 12, I joined Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh at the announcement by the Borough President’s Solid Waste Advisory Board and the Citizens Committee for New York City of their 2014 Community-Scale Composting Grants. In addition to La Plaza Cultural Community Garden, where the announcement was held, three other programs in our Senate District were among the grantees: East Side Community High School, Green Oasis Community Garden and P.S. 3. A complete list of grantees, who were awarded funds to build compost bin systems and given materials and supplies needed in order to ensure project sustainability, can be seen here.

I applaud local advocates like the Citizen Committee for New York City and Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board, who are helping to grow legions of urban composters who live by the mantra, “make landscape, not landfill.” Thanks to these grants, more New Yorkers in neighborhoods across our city will learn that composting is a great way to reduce kitchen waste and help the environment at the same time.